Man Shot By Police At Pizza Ranch Was Seen Throwing Bike Into Traffic
LOVELAND, Colo. (CBS4) - A man is dead and three Loveland Police officers are on administrative leave after a deadly shooting at the Pizza Ranch restaurant on Monday night. It all started with a man throwing a bicycle into traffic on Highway 34.
The man who was shot by police has been identified as William Rippley, 45, from Loveland.
"Just kind of a chain of events that ended up culminating at our location and it's just kind of painful," said Pizza Ranch General Manager Andrew Bloemendall.
Rippley allegedly entered the restaurant through a side door and spent some time in the kitchen before he wandered into the middle of the dining area.
Police say before he went inside the restaurant, officers had received calls that a man was throwing his bike into traffic on Eisenhower Boulevard at approximately 8 p.m. Monday. When officers arrived they say the Rippley ran into the restaurant's kitchen and grabbed a customer.
Officer Jennifer Hines fired and shot Rippley. He died a short time later at the hospital. Hines and two other offiers who were on scene are now on paid administrative leave during the investigation.
Police reports at the time indicated Rippley had a knife but it's not clear whether he had it in hand or used it against the customer.
"I saw a cop run in and about 15 minutes later I just heard a gunshot and out of nowhere all these cops run up and they closed Pizza Ranch," said one witness.
No employees or patrons, including the one who was grabbed, were injured.
"You always hear of people being in the wrong place at the wrong time, however you don't think of a building being in the wrong place at the wrong time," Bloemendall said.
The restaurant remained closed on Tuesday.
