A gunman driving on U.S. 36 fired on a parked Colorado State Patrol trooper on Saturday afternoon before he pulled over, got out of his vehicle and was killed by the wounded law enforcement officer in a shootout along the turnpike’s center median, authorities said.
The injured officer, identified by the state patrol as Cpl. Tye Simcox, was taken to Denver Health and released later in the afternoon after being treated for injuries that were not life-threatening.
“I will tell you very directly that our member was targeted today by a man that intended to kill him, and that is shocking and unacceptable,” Col. Matthew Packard, the chief of the Colorado State Patrol, said during a news conference Saturday evening.
“But our Colorado state trooper responded appropriately and swiftly and courageously, and he won today,” he said. “And by winning, not only did he save his own life, but he saved the rest of his community from someone who was clearly intending to do evil.”
Simcox was parked in his marked Ford 150 pickup truck between two concrete barriers in the center median of U.S. 36, just west of Federal Boulevard in Westminster, doing paperwork around 1:18 p.m., Packard said. An adult male driving a black Chevrolet pickup truck eastbound on U.S. 36 slowed, he said.
“As he passed our trooper (he) started to fire multiple shots from a handgun into our patrol car, aimed at a Colorado state trooper,” Packard said.
The gunman pulled over, exited his vehicle “and began to engage our trooper again,” he said. The man fired his semiautomatic pistol into the patrol vehicle’s windshield as the wounded trooper got out with his rifle and returned fire, officials said.
“He was able to strike and ultimately kill the suspect who was attacking him,” Packard said.
Simcox was shot once in the arm and was able to apply a tourniquet to the limb as he waited for responding Colorado State Patrol troopers and Westminster police officers.
Packard said investigators hadn’t yet identified the dead gunman and didn’t know what led him to fire on the parked trooper.
Investigators closed U.S. 36 in both directions from Federal to Sheridan boulevards for hours following the early-afternoon shooting; westbound lanes reopened at 8:15 p.m. and eastbound lanes reopened around 10 p.m., according to Westminster police.
“I want it to be known that we came out on top today, and that’s really, really important, because that’s what good does,” Packard told reporters. “Good and courageous people win over evil cowardice — and that’s what happened today on Highway 36.”
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