El Paso County Sheriff’s deputies fatally shot a man who charged toward them in a stolen pickup yesterday in a Colorado Springs alley, authorities say.
The suspect was taken to Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead Friday following the 4:16 p.m. shooting, said Lt. David Whitlock, Colorado Springs police spokesman.
The shooting happened in an alley north of Constitution Avenue between Meade Avenue and Union Boulevard as two deputies were investigating a property crime, Whitlock said.
During their investigation the deputies spotted a pickup parked behind a home, and when they checked the vehicle registration they discovered that the truck was stolen, Whitlock said in a news release.
The deputies got out of their squad cars and were walking toward the truck when a man inside the pickup started the vehicle and started racing toward them, he said.
“They believed they were in peril,” Whitlock said. “Shots were fired by the deputies as the pickup continued to accelerate toward them.”
The deputies jumped out of the way and the pickup slammed into a light pole while turning onto Constitution Avenue from the alley, he said.
As the deputies got into their cars, the pickup crashed into a tree, Whitlock said.
When they got to the pickup the deputies saw that the suspect had multiple gunshot wounds, and they called for an ambulance, he said.
The deputies were not injured.
Authorities have not released the names of the deputies or the suspect.
The deputies were placed on routine administrative leave pending an investigation.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
