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Deadly Shooting Linked To Kidnapping In Westminster

WESTMINSTER, Colo. (CBS4)- Deputies with the Boulder County Sheriff's Office shot and killed a suspect who was linked to a kidnapping involving family members out of Westminster.

Boulder County Communications received a "Be On The Lookout" or BOLO from the Westminster Police Department about 1 p.m. about a white Honda sedan which was a suspect vehicle in a kidnapping.

shooting investigation map
(credit: CBS)

The Boulder dispatch then received several 911 calls from a cell phone in the area of the Doudy Draw Trailhead located at 4100 Eldorado Springs Drive in Boulder County.

"When officers arrived they saw the sedan parked in the parking lot. They approached the vehicle, the deputy saw that the passenger in the backseat of the car had a gun to the head of the passenger in the front seat. One of our deputies shot the suspect in the back seat," said Boulder County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Heidi Prentup.

When deputies arrived they found the Honda at the trailhead. They saw the rear seat passenger holding a gun to the back of the head of the front seat passenger. One deputy fired one round from his gun, a rifle, striking the suspect.

The driver of the Honda and the front seat passenger were not injured.

el dorado springs shooting
A Boulder County Sheriff's deputy shot and killed a kidnapping suspect (credit: CBS)

Before the Westminster Police Department called Boulder County with the BOLO, officers received a call for a welfare check on family members located in the 10100 block of Benton Street.

"Very quiet people, very nice, had a lot of family get togethers but never any rowdiness or anything," said neighbor Carl Winch.

When officers arrived, it was determined the suspect had come to the home to transfer the title of a vehicle. Initially two males from the home left with the suspect willingly. When officers asked family members at the residence to contact the males who had left with the suspect, it was determined they were being held against their will in the car.

"The family members called them to see if they were okay and they said, 'No' they were being held at gunpoint and it was no longer their freewill to be with the person," said Prentup.

The suspect then made several threats to family members about killing everyone in the car and also having a weapon with him. Westminster police determined the car was in Boulder County and called authorities.

All people involved in the kidnapping were from the same family.

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