BROOMFIELD — A gunman took a woman hostage in a Broomfield apartment complex early Thursday morning, firing shots from the unit at responding officers and into other buildings during an hours-long standoff with police.
Law enforcement officers ultimately breached the unit in the Arista Flats Apartments, shooting the 34-year-old suspect, Broomfield police said. The seriously injured gunman and the woman he’d held hostage were taken to an area hospital, where she was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound, police said late Thursday afternoon.
Police did not specify who shot the woman. That remains under investigation, Broomfield Police Department spokeswoman Rachel Haslett said.
Neither the gunman nor the victim has been publicly identified. Criminal charges against the suspect “are forthcoming,” police said.
Multiple law enforcement officers also received minor injuries during the incident, during which nearby residents were evacuated or ordered to shelter in place.
Anthony Rurup and Jennifer Komperda, who live at Arista Flats, were out walking their dogs just after 7 a.m. Thursday when .
Although the two didn’t know it, a man had taken a woman hostage in the building just across from Rurup’s apartment and was threatening to hurt her and others. The two were evacuated from their apartment when they returned to their building as SWAT officers used the unit to set up a crisis headquarters.
Sitting outside on the sidewalk with Komperda and their two dogs — Bodi and Ebony — Rurup recounted seeing the shooter lean out of a window and fire “at least a full clip.”
“It was wild shooting,” Rurup said. “He was firing indiscriminately. … Itap surreal. It doesn’t even feel like this is real right now.”
Haslett, of the Broomfield Police Department, said officers first responded to reports of a disturbance around 6:30 a.m. after neighbors heard yelling from inside an Arista Flats apartment unit. The apartment complex is northwest of the 1stBank Center and south of the UCHealth Broomfield Hospital.
When officers arrived, they heard gunshots and the suspect making threats, Haslett said. He was shooting sporadically into surrounding units, other apartment buildings and the parking lot. No one else in the apartment complex was injured, police said.
The hostage standoff went on for nearly four hours, with gunshots fired intermittently and loud explosions from police flash-bang grenades echoing through the neighborhood.
“We wouldn’t hear them for a while, and then another shot would be fired,” Haslett said.
Suddenly, after one final volley of gunshots between officers and the suspect around 10 a.m., the neighborhood full of apartment buildings fell silent and residents sheltering inside began to peek outside of their balcony doors.
During that 10 a.m. push, officers were able to breach the door and enter the apartment where the suspect had barricaded himself and take the man into custody, Haslett said.
Multiple law enforcement officers fired their weapons, police said.
The area was expected to remain an active crime scene for hours as police investigate. As of 3:40 p.m., the Rurups still could not return to their apartment. Police warned that roads and buildings in the area would be closed into the evening as their investigation continued.
Residents who can’t get home can go to the Broomfield Community Center at 2870 Spader Way.
Out of an abundance of caution, Broomfield officials also put Jefferson Academy Secondary School — one mile east of the shooting — on secure status. The school day continued as normal, but no one was allowed in or out until 10 a.m.
Denver Post reporter Katie Langford contributed to this report.
Updated at 3:39 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024: This article was updated to correct the spelling of Anthony Rurup’s surname.
