Denver – A 20-year-old Thornton man was shot in the head while driving on Interstate 70 early Sunday, said Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
The victim, whose name wasn’t released, was taken to Denver Heath Medical Center for treatment. He was reported by 9News to be in fair condition.
Jackson said the victim was driving a blue, two-door, 1990 Chevrolet Cavalier westbound on the interstate just west of Havana Street when he was shot at about 12:40 a.m. A passenger helped guide the car safely to the side of the highway, Jackson said.
A portion of the interstate was shut for about 1½ hours while police investigated the shooting. It isn’t known whether the shot was fired from another car or what direction that car may have been traveling, Jackson said.
Anyone in the vicinity at the time of the shooting who may have seen something related to the incident is urged to contact Denver police.
LARIMER COUNTY
Motor home, sedan crash; 1 dead, 9 hurt
A motor home and a sedan crashed Sunday, killing one person and injuring nine others northwest of Fort Collins.
An adult woman who was riding in the motor home was pronounced dead at the scene at the U.S. 287 bypass and Larimer County Road 54G.
Two other adults and five children who were in the motor home, as well as the two adults in the sedan, were transported by ambulance to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, according to Mike Gavin, battalion chief with Poudre Fire Authority.
“It totally destroyed the motor home,” Gavin said.
Officials did not release names and Gavin said he did not know the condition of the victims, nor whether they were all admitted into the hospital.
The motor home was hauling a trailer full of cut wood, said Carie Dann, a firefighter with Poudre Fire Authority. The license plates on the trailer were from Colorado and the sedan had Wyoming plates, she said.
The Colorado State Patrol said alcohol may have been involved. How the 4:30 p.m. accident occurred had not yet been determined Sunday night.
Numerous crosses dot the grass surrounding the intersection, marking other fatal accidents, Dann said. The speed limit in the area ranges from 55 mph to 65 mph and the intersection has a stop sign but no traffic light, Dann said.
Traffic on U.S. 287 was stopped and rerouted through Laporte for 75 minutes.
“That’s a bad intersection. There have been several fatal accidents there,” Gavin said. “With the heavy traffic in the canyon, people need to drive carefully.”
SUMMIT COUNTY
Woman found in lake an apparent suicide
A 50-year-old Illinois woman found floating in Lake Dillon on Saturday died of an apparent suicide, officials said.
At about 8 a.m. Saturday, the woman’s friend reported her missing to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Tammy Scott said.
Her body was recovered from the reservoir near the north end of the Snake River inlet about two hours later. Sheriff’s deputies found her rental car parked at Swan Mountain Road.
Evidence found at the vehicle and in the victim’s room at Keystone led county coroner Joanne Richardson to determine foul play was not involved.
The cause of death remained undetermined pending toxicology results. The name of the victim, who is from Evanston, Ill., would not be released out of respect for her family, Scott said.
BRECKENRIDGE
Summit cyanide ban overturned by judge
Summit County’s ban on the use of cyanide in gold mining went beyond the county’s authority and ran afoul of a state law pre-empting such regulation, a judge has ruled.
District Judge David R. Lass said only the state Mined Land Reclamation Board has the authority to regulate cyanide heap-leach mining.
The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the Colorado Mining Association after Summit County commissioners approved the ban in January 2004. Environmental groups who support the ban say an appeal is likely.
The Cresson mine, operated by the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co., is the only mine in Colorado using the technique, in which cyanide is sprinkled on crushed low-grade ore and then processed to remove the gold. The cyanide is reused.
Problems with the technique led to extensive pollution below the Summitville and Battle Mountain Mines in south-central Colorado. More than $200 million has been spent on cleanup efforts at the Summitville mine, a federal Superfund site.
The state had joined the mining association in the lawsuit.
