Commerce City police shoot, kill man wanted for domestic violence after hours-long standoff
DENVER (KDVR) — A SWAT standoff with a barricaded suspect in Commerce City lasted nearly five hours on Friday and ended with law enforcement shooting and killing the suspect.
According to the agency, Commerce City police and SWAT officers were at a residence on East 72nd Avenue between Niagara and Oneida Streets beginning at about 2 p.m. on Friday. The agency said it was at the residence of a 29-year-old man wanted on two warrants.
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Police say he was also wanted for a domestic violence assault that took place earlier on Friday.
In an update at about 4 p.m., the department said the situation was “very tense and fluid,” and asked area residents to stay inside until the operation concluded.
The agency said the suspect barricaded himself in a residence in the 6700 block of East 72nd Avenue around 2 p.m., after attacking a woman, who had to be transported to the hospital.
Police said the suspect was holding a maintenance worker hostage inside the residence. They also said the man was refusing to comply with commands to exit the residence, and that officers knew he was armed with a knife and at least one handgun.
The maintenance worker was able to escape the situation on his own shortly after the hours-long standoff began, according to the agency, but the suspect still failed to follow commands. Police said he repeatedly threatened to shoot police officers, “even after hours of conversation with our trained negotiators.”
A Commerce City Police Department public information officer told FOX31 that shooting the suspect was “very planned, very not spur of the moment.”
“This was hours and hours of putting a plan into motion if it came to that, so while I can’t tell you exactly what happened, I can tell you it would be a very methodical, very planned out procedure,” she said.
Police ultimately shot the suspect, and also rendered emergency aid, but the suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. The Adams County Coroner’s Office will release his identity.
An outside investigation by the 17th Judicial District’s Critical Incident Response Team is requested and expected to begin immediately.
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