Denver authorities on Tuesday identified by a Mountain View police officer late Sunday during a traffic stop.
Enrique Gonzalez died at Denver Health of a gunshot wound, the coroner’s office said. His death has been ruled a homicide.
happened just before 10 p.m. in the 5000 block of West 44th Avenue, where the officer was trying to confront Gonzalez during a traffic stop.
The Mountain View officer has been placed on administrative leave, which officials say is routine, pending an investigation into the encounter.
Colorado Bureau of Investigation records show Gonzalez had no arrests in state. Steve Castro, spokesman for the Denver medical examiner, said he did not immediately have information on where Gonzalez was from.
Mountain View police say Gonzalez got out of his vehicle armed with a shotgun, at which point the officer opened fire, discharging several shots.
“This suspect shot at me with a shotgun!” an officer called over his radio, recordings archived on the Broadcastify.com show.
“(The suspect) is bleeding out!” someone called out shortly after.
The officer decided to stop the vehicle Gonzalez was driving because it was missing the right rear tail light assembly, and the entire right rear quarter panel, according to a Mountain View police media release. “The officer believed the suspect vehicle may have been fleeing a hit-and-run accident based upon the observed damage that appeared to be fresh, the release said.
After Gonzalez stopped, the officer did not immediately approach the suspect vehicle, police said. The officer instead took a position of cover and began attempting to communicate with Gonzalez through the rear window, which was broken out and missing. While the officer was attempting to communicate with Gonzalez, he exited the driver’s side of the vehicle armed with a shotgun.
“Gonzalez turned and pointed the shotgun at the officer, and the officer fearing for his life and safety fired his duty weapon at Gonzalez striking him,” according to the release.
Mountain View covers about 12 square blocks west of Denver and west of Sheridan Boulevard. The shooting occurred two blocks inside Denver after the officer followed Gonzalez out of Mountain View.
“The officer was catching up to the suspect,” said Officer Kirk Firko, a Mountain View police spokesman, of why the shooting happened outside of the town.
Denver police are investigating the shooting because it happened in their jurisdiction. “We don’t have anything new,” Raquel Lopez, a Denver police spokeswoman, said. “It’s still an ongoing investigation.”
