COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — The Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) has released more information on an officer-involved shooting from August.
In the latest release from CSPD, at 2:48 p.m. on August 22, detectives with CSPD's Violent Offender Fugitive Task Force found a car that belonged to a suspect wanted for first-degree kidnapping.
Detectives were then able to positively identify the driver as the suspect, and they began following the car as they formulated a plan to take him into custody.
Around 3:30 p.m., the officers saw the suspect in his car, parked outside of a home in the 1100 block of Branding Iron Circle.
The officers approached the suspect and identified themselves, told him that he was under arrest, and told him to exit the car.
He refused and attempted to drive away, but officers used their cars to block his car from escaping.
One officer used an impact round to break the car's back window to deploy gas into the car, when they observed that he had a gun.
Before they could deploy the gas, the suspect exited his car and confronted the officers with the gun.
Two officers fired several shots, hitting the suspect.
Police say that he was taken into custody, and officers rendered emergency medical care until the paramedics arrived. When they arrived, the suspect was declared dead.
His gun was identified as an Airsoft gun, replicating an MP5, but didn't have any orange safety indicators, according to police.
The suspect has been identified as Cole Daniel Vannucci, 42.
The officers involved are Christopher Laabs, who's been employed with CSPD for 18 years, and Logan Scheppele, who's been employed with CSPD for eight years.
This is an ongoing investigation, and the El Paso County Sheriff's Office will send their investigation findings to the Fourth Judicial District, District Attorney’s Office to determine if the shooting complied with Colorado law.
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