WHEAT RIDGE, Colo.—A man found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a Chicago home was the person suspected of killing a woman after running her off a road, Wheat Ridge police said Saturday.
Wheat Ridge police had expanded their search for 36-year-old Tyler James Martin to include Illinois and Missouri because he was believed to have friends and relatives in those states. On Friday evening, Martin barricaded himself in a Chicago home that belonged to one of his relatives and shot himself after police arrived, said Wheat Ridge police spokeswoman Lisa Stigall.
Wheat Ridge police Sgt. Lila Cohen said Friday Martin was believed to be alone in the house. One of his vehicles was nearby, Stigall said.
Police said Martin was suspected of following 34-year-old Amber Kathleen Cremeens after she left a gym in her car Tuesday, and then using his vehicle to run her off a road and shooting her. Cremeens was found dead inside her car.
Chicago police said in a statement Friday that officers tried pulling over a man “wanted for a homicide” in Colorado but that he fled, throwing away a weapon before barricading himself. Chicago police said neighbors and authorities tried to persuade him to give up while a SWAT team surrounded him.
Martin shot himself three hours later, police said. Chicago police said they recovered three weapons from the scene.
In chilling 911 tapes police released Friday, Cremeens’ boyfriend tried to get her help moments before her death. In the tapes, the boyfriend tells a 911 dispatcher that the ex-boyfriend, reportedly Martin, “has been stalking the hell out of her.”
“He will not leave her alone,” Cremeens’ boyfriend tells the dispatcher. Cremeens’ boyfriend was identified only as Alex in the call. At the time, the boyfriend was also talking to Cremeens on her cell phone as she described being followed in her car.
“He can’t get you if you keep driving, Amber,” the boyfriend tells Cremeens.
Moments later, Cremeens is heard screaming.
“He’s trapping you?” the boyfriend asks, and then, “He’s trying to run you off the road?” before losing the call.
A subsequent caller to the 911 dispatcher reports a car accident and a shooting in the area where Cremeens said she was being chased.
Police say Cremeens, 34, dated Martin for about eight years until August and that he exhibited “stalking behavior” toward her.
Martin’s neighbors told The Denver Post on Friday that he had showed them three guns he said he had bought to protect himself from neighborhood gangs. Martin had reportedly told friends he and Cremeens had made up and he was excited about a possible reunion.
