Officer Struck In Face With Bullet During Gunfire Exchange With Suspect
DENVER (CBS4) - It was a close call for an Aurora police officer involved in an exchange of gunfire with a suspect on Tuesday.
Police in Aurora released a picture of the officer's bullet wound on his face. The officer was shot during an altercation with a suspect in Denver's Montbello neighborhood that stemmed from a deadly shooting at an apartment complex in Aurora. The suspect was shot and killed.
The officer suffered injuries to his face not considered life-threatening.
"It's right by his nose. Had that round taken a different trajectory or been an inch higher, I don't know what kind of message we would be giving you today," said Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz.
That officer has not been identified but has worked with the Aurora Police Department since 2003. He was recently assigned to the SWAT unit in Aurora.
The officer-involved shooting happened just before noon Tuesday near East 46th Avenue and Dearborn Street. Police said that shooting involved the suspect wanted in a deadly shooting less than an hour before at 142 Del Mar Circle in Aurora.
Police in Aurora released details about an armed and dangerous suspect and a description of the suspect vehicle wanted in the shooting that left one dead. Police in Denver located the car in the Montbello neighborhood in northeast Denver.
Officers said the suspect came out of the home on his own, carrying a baby in a car seat carrier. He put the baby in the car. That's when he may have noticed a uniformed police officer nearby.
"He was carrying an infant believed to be his child in a carrier. He loaded it into the vehicle," said Denver Police Lt. Matt Clark.
Two additional officers were nearby and pulling up to the home.
Police say the suspect may have seen the officers, grabbed his gun and started shooting. He was struck and killed in the exchange of gunfire with police.
Police say the suspect had a criminal history that included assault and robbery.
Three police officers discharged their weapons, two from Aurora and one from Denver. The suspect fired multiple shots.
"Their direction of fire was at specifically him and they were cognizant if they were off, it could go into that vehicle," said Clark.
Police said the suspect forced the confrontation with officers. The baby was not hurt.
Metz said that he is thankful the officers on the scene reacted the way they did.
"Had they not reacted the way they did, they may not have been able to prevent our officer from getting further injured than he did," said Metz.
