Man Sentenced In Violent Attempted Robbery
DENVER (CBS4)- A man involved in a violent attempted robbery that occurred earlier this year has pleaded guilty and been sentenced in connection with the case.
Nicholas Zentz pleaded guilty to one count of attempted robbery. Zentz, 26, was sentenced to three years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.
On January 26, Zentz attempted to hold up a Walgreens pharmacy on Green Valley Ranch Blvd. When police arrived on the scene, shots were fired.
Zentz assaulted Denver Police Detective Virginia Lopez and stole her gun.
Lopez told CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass that she confronted two robbers, drew her gun, and jumped the counter. One shot was fired from Lopez's weapon during a tussle with the robbers. Nobody was hit.
"As a cop we have an obligation to try to keep bad things from happening to good people. We don't have the option of running away. That option of ignoring doesn't exist for us so I did what any police officer would have done," said Lopez.
After the shot, one of the robbers wrestled Lopez's gun away and fled. Police say he then used it to steal a getaway car from a motorist at a nearby Grease Monkey store.
