Woman Critical After Being Shot In LoDo Office Building, Suspect Dead
DENVER (CBS4) - Shots were fired in the area of 15th and Wynkoop streets Tuesday afternoon and a female victim was rushed to the hospital with several gunshot wounds.
Officers rushed to 1536 Wynkoop on reports of a man with a gun at 2:42 p.m. Tuesday.
"Officers quickly entered the building and found the suspect was down from a possible self-inflicted gunshot wound and he was pronounced deceased," said Denver Police spokesman Doug Schepman.
Schepman said based on their preliminary investigation, it was not a random shooting. Detectives are working to determine the connection between the victim and the suspect.
Denver police tweeted out an update on the incident at the Alliance Center shortly after officers arrived.
Police said they were prepared for multiple victims but according to Schepman the shooting involved one man and one woman. She was taken into emergency surgery after she arrived at Denver Health Medical Center with gunshout wounds to her arm, chest and back. Her identity has not been released.
Officers rushed to the 1500 block of Wynkoop on reports of a male with a gun about 2:42 p.m.
Several streets in the area were closed during the investigation.
One witness posted video on YouTube that showed people evacuating a building. People could be seen running out of the building with their hands in the air.
Police tweeted out an update at 3:20 p.m. that the building at 1536 Wynkoop has been cleared.
Police tweeted out an update that the scene was secure at 3:30 p.m.
All shuttles and bus service, including the Mall Shuttle along the 16th Street Mall were suspended in the area.
The Alliance Center is home to offices for a lot of nonprofit groups. Nicole Arnone, who works in the building, described her reaction after learning there was a man with a gun in her building.
"We were trying decide whether to stay and hide in the office or to run, and I said, 'I think we should probably run.' So we went down the stairwell and there were bullet casings all over the stairwell," Arnone said.
Arnone said she was listening to headphones and wouldn't have known about the situation unless her coworkers alerted her.
"It's one of those things we all see on the news all the time and you never think that it's going to be your office -- and today it was my office … I ran out of the building thinking, 'What was the last thing I said to my parents? What was the last thing I said to my family? No one should have to go through that," Arnone said.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock posted several tweets about the incident. They are as follows:
Denver firefighters were wearing protective vests when they arrived on the scene of the shooting. Firefighters are often some of the first people to arrive at active crime scenes and in some cases across the country they've been shot at. Now many fire departments are outfitting crews with protective vests to keep them safe.
