DENVER – All lanes of westbound Interstate 70 were re-opened shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday after the roadway was shut down for more than five hours near I-25 following a chase involving a carjacking suspect.
The suspect later died at a hospital of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police. The highway remained closed as authorities investigated the incident, and police advised commuters to exit I-70 before Colorado Boulevard.
Deputies from the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office had chased the suspect from near Strasburg into Denver, reaching speeds of more than 100 mph until the chase was slowed by traffic, Capt. Jared Rowlison said.
The chase began after a report of an armed robbery in Strasburg, where a man's car was stolen at gunpoint outside of a liquor store, Rowlison said. Deputies spotted the suspect on I-70 a short time later, and the chase ensued.
Deputies were able to end the chase at the Washington Street exit on I-70, near I-25, Rowlison said. Deputies and Denver police who arrived to help had issued several verbal commands at the suspect, but he did not comply and the officers fired less-lethal rounds at the car, police technician Jay Casillas said.
The officers then heard a gunshot from inside the car, and when they approached the car, they found the suspect with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Casillas said.
Adams County Sheriff's Office investigtors are trying to determine whether this carjacking is related to an earlier carjacking that happened in Denver on Sept. 30.
