A police officer shot a man in west Denver on Tuesday afternoon, and the suspect was taken to a hospital.
The incident unfolded along busy Federal Boulevard just off West 12th Avenue outside a bank.
The man who was shot was with two other suspects, a man and a woman. All three were in custody, said John White, a Denver Police Department spokesman.
Before 4:30 p.m., an officer spotted a vehicle that matched a description of a one that had been carjacked in Arapahoe County. As officers attempted to make contact with three people in the car in the parking lot of Denver Community Credit Union, 1095 Federal Blvd., all three jumped from the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot.
One of the suspects was armed with a handgun, and at least one officer fired shots, White said.
Bernie Valverde was inside the credit union when she heard the gunshots.
“We thought we were getting robbed inside the bank,” Valverde said. “Everybody was looking for a place to hide.”
Suddenly, Valverde panicked, realizing her two nephews and a niece, children ages 8, 6 and 18 months, were outside waiting in a van, with their grandmother, in the parking lot.
Bank employees locked the front door and wouldn’t let anyone out, Valverde said.
After minutes, which seemed like an eternity, Valverde was reunited with the children, who were all unharmed.
“Oh, my God,” Valverde said. “I was mostly scared for the kids being shot.”
Sancho Taylor, 27, who lives in the area, said he was walking by when he heard gunshots.
“I heard about six or seven shots ring out,” Taylor said. “I thought they were holding up the bank.”
Taylor said he started running for safety. He calmed down and went to a nearby business before circling back to the bank.
“The police had a man on the ground, and then an ambulance came,” Taylor said.
Police on Tuesday did not say whether the trio was there to rob the credit union.
The credit union parking lot was cordoned off with crime-scene tape as investigators combed the scene.
The suspect who was shot is expected to survive, police said. None of the suspects were identified immediately.
Police did not say where the other two suspects who fled the parking lot were eventually caught.
An investigation is ongoing.
