GREENWOOD VILLAGE — A standoff between police and a man holed up inside a Greenwood Village home continued late into Wednesday night.
Police were still on the scene at 11:30 p.m. for an incident that began about 10 hours earlier, when Aurora police responded to a shoplifting incident at a Walmart at 9400 East Hampden Avenue.
At one point Wednesday night, officials said the suspect was no longer in contact with police.
No other people are in the home, police said.
Greenwood Village Police Chief John Jackson said that people who live on the block were having to “shelter in place.”
“Don’t go home right now if you live on that block,” Jackson said. “You won’t be able to get to it.”
When police arrived on the shoplifting call, the suspect was fleeing in a Lexus. Police haven’t determined whether the vehicle was stolen.
Police followed the Lexus to a nearby light rail station on Dayton Avenue where the suspect ditched the car and took off on foot. Witnesses at the light rail station said the suspect appeared to have a gun, so police continued to chase him.
When the suspect entered Greenwood Village, that city’s agency took over, said Jackson.
The suspect somehow got inside a home on the 4200 block of South Alton Street. Jackson said he randomly selected the home and was looking for a vehicle to escape in.
A 9-year-old boy was alone inside the home at the time. Jackson said the boy saw the suspect, was confused how he got in and called the police, who instructed him to go out his front yard. The boy went outside to meet up with his mother and was unharmed.
The suspect shot through the garage door of the home but did not injure anyone. Police did not know whether the boy was still in the home when the suspect shot. Police did not return fire, Jackson said.
The suspect remains inside the home, and Jackson described the scene as “very controlled.”
“We’re negotiating now,” he said, adding that officials are in contact by phone.
Jackson said about 5:30 p.m. that the suspect and police are conversing nearly every five minutes and that the suspect wants to speak with a family member. Police said they are willing to let that happen so long as the suspect comes out peacefully.
“We have a really solid handle on this,” he added. “We’re not going to let him have the control. We’ve got all night.”
After 8 p.m., police said the suspect had stopped answering the phone.
