JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — Newly released documents show that the shooter who killed an Arvada police officer in June of 2021 was shot five times by a good Samaritan.
The autopsy was completed by John D. Carver, M.D., a forensic pathologist for Jefferson County. The report showed that Ronald Troyke, 59, was shot in the shoulder, hip, arm, and twice in the back.
Arvada Police Chief Link Strate said Troyke “targeted” and “ambushed” Officer Gordon Beesley, who died in the shooting, because he was a police officer. They said he had “expressed hatred of police officers.”
Police said a good Samaritan, 40-year-old John Hurley, intervened in the incident and “likely disrupted what could have been a larger loss of life.”
Hurley shot Troyke five times with a 9mm handgun and killed him.
When officers arrived on the scene, they saw Hurley with a gun standing over a body and assumed he was involved. An officer then shot and killed Hurley mistaking him for another shooter.
“Based on the facts, this officer had reasonable ground to believe Hurley was a second mass shooter,” District Attorney Alexis King said.
The officer who shot and killed Hurley was not charged.