GREELEY, Colo.—An inmate who had been taken to a Greeley hospital for medical treatment on Friday stole a deputy’s gun and took a person hostage before apparently taking his own life, authorities said. The hostage was not harmed.
Raul Alaniz, 32, was found dead from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a house he had broken into near the hospital, sheriff’s spokesman Tim Schwartz said.
Alaniz took someone in the home hostage, but deputies freed that person before hearing at least one gunshot from inside the home, Schwartz said. Details of the rescue weren’t immediately available.
After hearing the gunshot, a special weapons and tactics team stormed the house, firing tear gas and a “flash-bang” device designed to disorient a suspect with noise and light, the Greeley Tribune reported ( ).
The officers found Alaniz dead, Schwartz said. No one else was in the house at the time and no officers fired their weapons, he said.
Deputies had taken Alaniz from jail to North Colorado Medical Center Friday after he complained of blood in his urine. Alaniz assaulted a deputy, stole the gun and fled, Schwartz said. The deputy suffered minor injuries.
Schwartz said Alaniz attempted but failed to carjack a vehicle and then broke into the house and took the hostage.
Alaniz had been arrested Wednesday on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, criminal impersonation, attempting to influence a public servant, resisting arrest and violating parole, the Tribune reported. Alaniz also faced charges of burglary and aggravated motor vehicle theft in Larimer County.
No one other than the deputy was injured in the hospital, Schwartz said.
The hospital was placed on lockdown after the inmate escaped, meaning restrictions were placed on people entering and leaving, spokesman Gene Haffner said.
