A man was killed by police early Saturday morning after leading authorities on a high-speed chase through Greeley.
The incident began just before midnight when Greeley police responded to a triple shooting in the 1600 block of Fifth Street.
Greeley police Sgt. Joe Tymkowych said officers obtained information about a possible suspect and a vehicle description.
Police spotted the suspect vehicle a short time later near Second Avenue and 13th Street.
After the suspects tried to elude police, the car stopped in the 1400 block of Third Avenue, where one suspect jumped out and fled, Tymkowych said.
The suspect began firing at officers who ran after him, police said. Officers returned fire, killing the suspect.
At the Perez residence at the corner of 14th Street and 3rd Avenue, just a few feet from where the car chase ended, the eldest Perez said he heard gunshots over the noise of a party he was hosting.
“We had the music going and I heard gunshots,” he said. “Now our street is roped off, and no one has come by to tell us what has happened and (ask) if we are concerned.”
A younger Perez said he witnessed the firefight from his bedroom window.
“I heard a lot of gunshots,” he said. “I looked out my window and saw the flashing lights of the guns going off.”
The driver of the suspect vehicle was arrested in the Perezes’ front yard and remains in custody.
Denise Hall said she was awakened by her partner, Virginia Savage, just before midnight at her home in the 1600 block of Fifth Street, where the night’s shootings began.
“She told me someone had been shot and there were like eight squad cars surrounding the block,” said Hall, who is president of a neighborhood watch group. “I looked outside and saw three men on the ground.”
Hall said the community’s relationship with the Greeley Police Department has been strained in recent years by what she called the department’s “Cowboys and Indians” behavior.
“We see a gang task force that jumps in to shoot ’em up,” said Hall, who has lived in her home for six years. “We need more police visibility in our neighborhood, and we need the police to show themselves as community members.”
Greeley police have not released the names of the three shooting victims, who are being treated for their wounds at North Colorado Medical Center.
Tymkowych also would not release the names of the two suspects but said the investigation remains “very active.”
Two young women, who would identify themselves only as friends of the shooting suspect, left a bouquet of yellow and red roses Saturday afternoon near the scene where the police killed the man.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell contributed to this report.
Staff writer Michael McCollum can be reached at 303-820-1201 or mmccollum@denverpost.com.
