SECURITY-WIDEFIELD — The El Paso County Sheriff's Office sent out an alert Sunday around 8:00 a.m. for people living on and around Maxwell St as a search for a shooting suspect is ongoing.
As of 9:45 a.m., the shelter in place has been lifted following a search by law enforcement.
"The Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the public for their invaluable assistance in adhering to our public safety requests this morning," said Sergeant Jason Garrett of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office in a news release Sunday.
"By remaining inside your homes in the affected areas or staying away from the affected areas otherwise, you ensured law enforcement personnel were able to focus on the relevant information to the investigation and not be distracted by persons not involved in the incident."
Garrett said that multiple calls to 911 came in just after 5:00 a.m. reporting a shooting outside of a home in the 6000 block of Metropolitan Street in the Security/Widefield area. When deputies arrived, they found two adults suffering from gunshot wounds. The victims were taken to a local hospital for treatment and are expected to survive.
The deputies were also able to get a detailed description of the shooting suspect who fled the area before their arrival. The suspect is described as a white male, 5'9"-5'10" tall, weighing about 160 lbs. He was last seen wearing a brown baseball cap, brown vest, blue shirt, no shoes, and carrying an AK-style rifle. The sheriff's office shared that description with the Colorado Springs Police Department, the Fountain Police Department, and the Colorado State Patrol and issued a "shelter-in-place" public safety notification for the general area.
A person matching the suspect description was spotted then on foot in the area of Stratmoor Valley at around 6:30 a.m. So, a second "shelter-in-place" notification was issued to residents living in this area. Officers from FPD, CSP, and EPSO flooded the area. Members of the SWAT team, K-9 officers, and a drone pilot began searching the neighborhood yard-by-yard looking for the suspect.
Probable cause was found to charge 25-year-old Elroy Uchner with Attempted First Degree Murder, Prohibited Use of Weapons, and other traffic-related charges.
Uchner was later booked into the El Paso County Jail on an arrest warrant for the charges and was not given a bond.
"During this time information continued to be evaluated by detectives and the incident commander and, as a result, it was determined there was no longer a known threat to the community, and this search was stopped," Sgt. Garrett reported.
The shelter-in-place public safety request was then lifted.
The impacted area lies within a wide radius near the intersections of I-25 and E Las Vegas Street, and I-25 and S. Academy Blvd.
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