A man scrambling the second flatiron at Chautauqua Park died after falling about 50 feet Monday afternoon, authorities said.
The man was not identified late Monday.
He was hiking with a female companion when they separated, and he began scaling the flatiron without climbing gear or safety equipment, Boulder County Sheriff’s Deputy Jay Stalnacker said.
Rescuers responded to the park just after 4 p.m., but the man was dead when they arrived. It was not known whether he was alive when his companion phoned 911.
Stalnacker did not know where the man was from. While scrambling is common, climbers are urged to use protective gear, especially a helmet, authorities said.
AURORA
Council OKs spending for purification plant
The Aurora City Council on Monday night approved spending $190.3 million for the purification facility of its Prairie Waters project.
Western Summit Contractors of Denver won the bid to build the facility for Prairie Waters, an almost $800 million project to extract water from the South Platte River, treat it and pipe it to customers.
The water will be pulled from the river near Brighton, sent 34 miles south to Aurora, treated during a 40-day, six-step process, and ultimately blended with the mountain water.
Prairie Waters was created when the city faced the risk of running out of water in 2003 after a persistent drought.
The project is slated to be completed in 2010 and will increase the city’s water supply by 20 percent.
The project is being paid for by a 12 percent increase in residents’ water bills this year and another 12 percent hike next year.
DENVER
Police: Victim, suspect exchange fire in chase
A man called police about a home invasion as he chased the suspect in his car, exchanging gunfire while on Interstate 70, 9News reported late Monday.
Denver police told the television station that the victim called to report a home invasion near 50th and Picadilly.
The victim was on the phone with police while chasing the suspect.
According to the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, the victim and suspect exchanged gunfire along I-70, 9News reported.
It is not clear if there were any injuries.
Police say the suspects bailed out of their vehicle, and a perimeter is set up at Fox Ridge Farms Mobile Home Park at 26900 E. Colfax Ave.
That is near I-70 and the Aurora Airpark.
BOULDER
Bank robber claimed to have hand grenade
A man wearing a camouflage jacket and wielding what he claimed was a hand grenade robbed a bank in Boulder on Monday, police said.
The robbery happened about 3 p.m., when a man walked into the Wells Fargo branch at 3307 30th St.
He went straight to the counter and asked the teller for money while displaying what appeared to be a hand grenade, police said. The man made off with an undisclosed amount of cash.
There were about six customers in the bank at the time of the robbery, but no one was injured.
ENGLEWOOD
Police don’t rule out homicide in deaths
At least one of the two people whose bodies were found in an apartment over the weekend may have been the victim of a homicide, police said Monday.
A person acquainted with the people at the apartment found the bodies around 7 p.m. Sunday.
There were no initial signs of what caused their deaths, Englewood police investigator John Hoehler said.
Hoehler would not speculate whether both of the people were homicide victims – only that one of the autopsies pointed to that possibility.
He said it’s not believed there is any further danger to the public related to this case.
Hoehler said investigators were still trying to positively identify the people and had not contacted their next of kin as of late Monday.
Investigators also were trying to determine the relationship between the people and whether they lived in the apartment.
The names of the two were not released pending notification of family members, and an autopsy was underway late Monday.
GOLDEN
Student hacker gets probation, service
A 17-year-old Golden High School student who hacked into the school’s computers to change his grades has been sentenced to a year of probation, 80 hours of community service and a yet-to-be-determined payment of restitution.
The unidentified juvenile pleaded guilty Wednesday to computer crimes – unlawful accessing and altering.
Golden police arrested the teen in February after investigation of a Jan. 29 break-in at the school in which a skylight was broken to get into a counselor’s office.
The teen was suspended from school in connection with the break-in and was being investigated for hacking into teachers’ computers shortly before winter break.
COLORADO SPRINGS
Lone hiker stranded overnight is rescued
A hiker who was stranded overnight in a heavy spring storm on the slopes of 14,110-foot Pikes Peak was rescued Monday, authorities said.
The 41-year-old man was not injured, The Gazette newspaper reported on its website. His name was not released.
The man was hiking alone Sunday and had encountered deeper snow than he expected, incident commander Brian Kinsey said. The man didn’t have snowshoes, Kinsey said.
The man set up a small tent, but it collapsed under the weight of the snow, Kinsey told The Gazette.
The man called for help on his cellphone about midnight and waited for rescuers at about the 12,000-foot level.
He was found about 10 a.m.
Steven Sperry, a spokesman for El Paso County Search and Rescue, said rescuers did not immediately know where the man was from or why he decided to hike in bad weather.
Pikes Peak is just west of Colorado Springs.
