Some Thornton residents spent a sleepless night holed up in their homes as SWAT members dressed in black crawled through front yards and trained rifles on a neighboring home.
No one was injured in the Thursday night standoff, caused by two drunken men who fired guns from the back porch and roof of 12685 Bellaire St. into the night sky, Thornton police said.
Neighbors on the block and across the street, some with children, prepared for the worst after hearing the initial shots fired by the men.
Frank Coffey, 40, pushed a mattress up against an exterior wall of his home to protect his wife and two sons from stray bullets or if a shootout erupted.
“We thought there may have been someone in our yard,” Coffey said Friday.
A short time after calling 911, a SWAT member positioned himself in the Coffey’s yard and aimed his weapon across the street from over a sideyard fence.
“I thought it was pretty weird; it’s never happened before,” said 10-year-old Terren Coffey, Frank’s son. “We’ve never had a lockdown and a sniper sitting in our backyard.”
Shelly Coffey, Frank’s wife, Terren and his 8-year-old brother Jayden, got little, if any sleep.
“It was a bit scary,” Shelly said.
The suspects, described as being highly intoxicated, were arrested early Friday after firing numerous shots with what is believed to be a semi-automatic SKS rifle, said Matt Barnes, Thornton police spokesman.
The suspects, identified as James Ray Lucero, 26, and James Allen Faunce, 37, were arrested for investigation of illegal discharge of weapons and possession of a firearm by an intoxicated individual.
Police received calls at 11 p.m. Thursday from the neighbors. When police arrived at the area, they heard more gunshots, Barnes said.
Detectives set up a perimeter and called the home, Barnes said.
They spoke with a man who agreed to come out of the house, saying that he was the only person inside, Barnes said.
Minutes later a second man walked out of the home, Barnes said.
