Police have identified the woman shot to death early Thursday by a Lakewood police officer as he was being dragged by a car as 39-year-old Donna Lynn Martinez.
Martinez was driving a stolen car at the time of the confrontation, shortly after midnight Thursday near West Colfax Avenue and Pierce Street, according to a news release.
Authorities have not released the name of the police officer involved in the incident.
The officer pulled the car over after determining that the license plate on the vehicle had been stolen. Police would later confirm that the car had been stolen earlier in the week.
The Lakewood police officer’s arm was pinned inside the car when the woman suddenly drove away. At that point, the officer fatally shot the woman.
A male passenger in the suspect’s car, Bernard John Trujillo, 48, was arrested on a parole violation. Additional charges against Trujillo are likely as the investigation progresses, according to the news release.
Trujillo has a 20-year arrest history in Colorado, including charges involving drugs, auto theft, escape, forgery, possession of an explosive device, defrauding a pawnbroker, possession of a deadly weapon and other offenses. He has several aliases, according to his arrest record, several of them using the last name Duran.
He has served jail and prison sentences, records indicate.
The Jefferson County Critical Incident Response Team, or “Shoot Team,” which includes investigators and detectives from several law enforcement agencies in Jefferson County, is investigating the shooting.
