DENVER (KDVR) — A Denver Police officer shot a suspect during a hostage situation following a police chase late Friday night, according to Police Chief Ron Thomas.
That suspect was injured but was in stable condition as of early Saturday morning, according to police.
The incident happened in the 3500 block of North York Street.
Chief Thomas said around 5:30 p.m. a road rage shooting was reported in the area of Colfax Avenue and Interstate 25.
The victim of that shooting said he was shot by someone in a vehicle that he then began to follow to the area of 47th Avenue and Josephine Street while on the phone with dispatchers.
Police said officers arrived at the scene and eventually found the suspect vehicle in that area, where it had been abandoned.
Police kept an eye on the vehicle for several hours after that and around 11 p.m., several people entered it and started driving away.
Police then pursued the vehicle to the 3500 block of North York Street, where it crashed.
Vin Pham was watching a movie at his house on York Street in Denver when an actual action sequence played out in front of his home.
“I stuck my head out and I saw the cop slide the car out and then another car while it’s sliding,” Pham said. “Hit it to roll it over and it landed right in front of the house right there.”
“There was like six cop cars chasing him and they all parked and they were guns ready,” Pham said. “Rifles out just screaming something about he was trying to get out the front windshield.”
Police eventually stopped the vehicle and surrounded it in this residential area, near the front of Pham’s home, and began issuing commands for the people inside to surrender.
“I saw one cop drag one guy away into that yard and another guy got off in the ambulance and then there was still a girl screaming, I think because she got cut pretty bad,” Pham said.
A man came out of the vehicle, “apparently holding a female hostage,” Chief Thomas said. “Officers believed that he had a gun and that he was threatening to kill this individual.”
According to police, they negotiated with the man to let the hostage go and abandon his weapon, but he did not do so.
Police said an officer fired a single shot into the suspect, at which point he and the hostage went down. However, the suspect did not let go of the woman until later.
Both the suspect and the hostage were eventually recovered safely.
Police said the suspect was transported to the hospital for his gunshot wound and was in stable condition. The female hostage was taken for a cut possibly sustained during or after the crash.
