Suspect's Family Says They Didn't Know About Criminal Past

DENVER (CBS4)- The woman Denver Sheriff's deputies were trying to serve with a felony warrant when she shot one of them has been identified by family members as Ronette Morales.

Deputies Donald Travis and Eric Givens arrived at an apartment complex near Park Avenue West and Tremont at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday to serve Morales, 29, with a felony warrant for burglary, assault and harassment.

Police say Morales answered her door with a gun and fired a shot, striking Travis in the hand. Givens fired back with a shot that killed Morales.

"The phone call I got was you better get down there, it's your cousin's house on 24th and Tremont. She's been shot," said Morales' cousin Lashell Morales. "I'm like, by who, by what?"

"The lady obviously shot someone, she was shooting the officer, we could see the officer was shot," said witness Jay Paul Apodaca.

Police said there were also two young witnesses, children who were inside the home. They were taken to the hospital as a precaution. They were not injured.

"Shortly after they brought the deputy out they brought the little girl. It was obvious she was shaken up, she was the first voice crying out of that particular space. I could hear her crying," said Apodaca.

Witnesses said they could hear the children crying and were visibly shaken up as the suspect was taken out of the crime scene near the apartment.

Lashell said she didn't know anything about Morales' criminal past and that she will remember her in a good light, "Ronette was sweet and a good person."

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According to arrest records, Morales was arrested for assault and child abuse in 2011.

The case is similar to the shooting of a process server back in 2008. That's when a process server died after trying to serve divorce papers to a man in Larimer County.