AURORA — An exhaustive search by scores of police from across the metro area is no closer to finding a suspect who stole a “puffer” car and then shot an Aurora police officer Friday night during a routine traffic stop.
“We have nothing,” Aurora police spokesman Frank Fania said Saturday afternoon. “We really have no clue. Right now, it’s a real whodunit.”
The wounded officer was taken to University of Colorado Hospital, where he was in surgery for several hours. He is in serious but stable condition and is expected to survive, according to Fania. The officer’s name has not been released.
Police worked through the night to try to find the shooter, Fania said.
“Everybody is concerned about getting this knucklehead off the street,” he said.
Around 9:05 p.m. Friday, a patrol car with two uniformed patrol officers pulled a car over for a traffic stop in the 1700 block of Fulton Street, according to Fania.
At the time, the officers did not know that the driver had just stolen the puffer car a few blocks away.
the motorist starts, usually in cold weather, and leaves running unattended. A target for thieves, such .
As the officers were walking up to the suspect’s car to make contact with the driver, the suspect fired several shots from the driver’s side window, striking one of the officers. The second officer returned fire, shooting multiple times as the suspect sped north on Fulton.
The car was abandoned two blocks later, at East 19th Avenue and Fulton, and the suspect fled.
There was no description of the suspect Saturday.
Aurora police set up a command post near Fulton and East Montview Boulevard.
“That was a huge perimeter and we couldn’t find him,” Fania said. “We’re hoping to get a break from someone calling in.”
Investigators were processing the car in the hopes of finding fingerprints or DNA left by the suspect, Fania said.
Police warned residents of the neighborhood — north of Crawford Elementary School — to stay in their homes and call 911 if they see anything suspicious.
Denver police and Jefferson County authorities assisted Aurora police. Officers set up what they called “an expanding perimeter,” and dozens of officers flooded the area, searching cars and knocking on doors. A helicopter was deployed and police K-9 units aided in the search.
“We have a lot of resources out here,” Fania said late Friday.
He said authorities were doing a “systematic search in all directions.”
“Hopefully, we’ll find this guy soon,” he said.
But by 1:45 a.m., the perimeter was taken down.
Fania said a large police presence would remain on Fulton on Saturday.
