Denver police shot and killed a man who allegedly pointed a gun at them when they responded to reports of someone firing a pistol as he walked along a residential street early Sunday.
It remains unclear whether the man fired on police. He has not been identified.
Police were dispatched to the 3400 block of West Louisiana Avenue after numerous people reported shots fired. Witnesses said the man was firing a handgun as he walked, police said in a release.
“All we know for sure is that the reports came to the communications center of a Hispanic male dressed in dark clothing shooting a pistol on the street,” said Denver police spokesman Joe J. Ramirez. “On arrival, they encountered the suspect.”
Officers ordered the man to put down the weapon, but he refused, instead pointing the pistol at them, Ramirez said.
“One of the officers discharged his weapon on the suspect,” he said.
Police taped off several blocks along West Louisiana during the search for evidence.
Neighbors were trying to piece together the events surrounding the shooting from memory and news reports.
Shirley Vallejos, 64, who lives a block from the scene, said she heard police cars racing down the street about midnight.
“It is a good thing I didn’t sleep out here,” she said, nodding toward a couch in her living room. “They would have shot me in the head.”
There was no indication from police Sunday morning that gunshots hit any homes.
Another woman, who asked not to be identified, said she also heard the police cars. Her son, who was visiting with his girlfriend, their child and a second child, yelled a warning.
“My son said, ‘Mom get the kids on the floor,’ ” she said. She ran from her room, grabbed the children and crouched with them on the floor.
“I don’t even know what the heck was going on,” she said.
The wounded man was taken to Denver Health Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Identification will be made by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.
This is the fourth fatal shooting by metro-area police this year, with two by Denver police and a third by a Lakewood officer. In 2008, there were seven officer-involved shootings in Denver. Suspects were killed in four of them.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
