PUEBLO – An hours-long standoff in Pueblo led to an officer-related shooting that left one man dead.
The situation is terrifying the residential neighborhood where it happened.
The man fled the scene of a traffic stop when a Pueblo police officer tried to arrest him.
He had a warrant out for his arrest in Weld County for a traffic offense.
But the situation escalated, leaving neighbors, and officers, on edge.
A SWAT team, zeroing in on a home on that man inside a home on Bohmen Avenue, where he remained barricaded for hours.
Police say around 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning, he came out with a handgun pointed at officers.
They responded by shooting and ultimately killing him.
Neighbors heard the scene unfold.
“I just heard ‘boom, boom, boom!'” recalled neighbor Roxanna Quintana.
“All of a sudden, we heard ‘pop, pop, pop!’ and we thought it was fireworks up the street,” added Debbie Duran.
“We heard a loud ‘bing!’ which we assumed it was just like – it was like a gunshot,” described 13-year-old Angel Quezada.
Eight officers had to be placed on administrative leave as part of standard protocol.
The officers belong to different departments, but it still puts a strain on the whole force.
“It is still a burden for us because that’s eight officers, eight bodies, who aren’t working,” said Captain Kenny Rider with Pueblo Police Department.
The incident is heightening safety concerns for neighbors.
“Really scary stuff,” said Quezada. “Honestly, ’cause when we heard that gunshot, I thought it was like a conflict in the street or something.”
“Spooky because we had – we been having a lot of trouble here like that,” Quintana added.
And even though officers handle trouble, the shooting is putting them on alert, too.
“Suspects aren’t afraid to shoot at police and get into deadly confrontations, so officers are on edge.”
Police aren’t releasing the identity of that man until the coroner can identify him and notify family members.
This marks the third officer-involved shooting this year for Pueblo Police Department.
