Suspect Shot By Denver Police Was Overdue For Sentencing
DENVER (CBS4) - The man shot by officers in a Walmart parking lot on Friday was a week overdue for a sentencing hearing on a sex assault conviction, according to authorities.
Court documents show Aurora police charged John Thomas Clark with eight counts of sexually assaulting a child under the age of 15 in 2005. Clark is now 42. He failed to appear Arapahoe County Court, and a Denver police spokeswoman told CBS4 a tip led them to him on Friday.
Clark was shot in the shoulder area and taken to the hospital. The shooting happened in the parking lot of the Walmart in Stapleton.
An unknown number of shots were fired while police were in the midst of a struggle with Clark.
They said two officers approached him and he became confrontational. They used pepper spray on him before shots were fired.
Police said they received a report that Clark was possibly suicidal.
An officer driving to the scene, was involved in an accident with another vehicle nearby. The officer and the other driver were taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
