GOLDEN — A man who was wanted by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office for an incident that happened over the weekend was shot and killed by officers in Clear Creek Canyon Sunday night.
A Colorado State Patrol trooper first spotted the suspect in what he thought was an abandoned vehicle along U.S. 6 at milepost 267 at around 8 p.m. When the trooper ran the license plate on the vehicle, he said he discovered it was possibly stolen out of Denver. He later saw a man and a girl who was under 18 sleeping inside the car and called for backup – prompting a response from the sheriff’s office and Golden Police Department.
U.S. 6 was closed down for safety reasons and so officers could speak to the occupants of the car. The driver put car in gear and began to drive away, prompting a trooper and a Jefferson County deputy to open fire.
The suspect drove the vehicle down the embankment and landed in Clear Creek. The man inside the car was taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds and later pronounced dead. The passenger in the car was also taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
Investigators have since determined the suspect vehicle was associated with an attempted homicide and pursuit in Lafayette, and that the now-dead man inside the car was wanted out of Westminster for felony charges and Adams County on a misdemeanor.
