DENVER (KDVR) — Police say a 16-year-old found in a field near the scene of an Aurora police shootout earlier this week has been arrested on seven counts of attempted murder of a police officer.
At least one other suspect is still wanted in the case.
The teenage boy that’s in custody also faces one count of aggravated motor vehicle theft in the incident, the Aurora Police Department announced on Saturday. His name and booking photo were not released because he is a minor.
He was taken into custody hours after the shooting Wednesday night, when police said they found him in a field near Central High School and the King Soopers parking lot where the shootout began. They said he was not wearing clothes that fit the night’s cold temperature and was also wearing a nonfunctioning ankle monitor.
The teen was initially taken into custody on multiple warrants for failure to appear on counts of motor vehicle theft and weapon possession, the police chief said after the shootings. Police had not arrested him in connection to the incident until Saturday.
At least one more suspect is still wanted in the shootout. Police have said all they know about that person is he’s male and had an injury to one of his legs, likely the right, based on blood and other evidence. He also wore a hooded sweatshirt.
“We are relieved that we have this one suspect in custody, but there is at least one other out there,” interim Police Chief Dan Oates said in the news release. “We need the public’s help. There is still a $10,000 reward for any information that will lead to the capture and conviction of the remaining suspect or suspects who tried to murder our officers.”
Aurora police shootout in shopping center lot
Police have said they believe there were two or more people in a stolen white Kia Optima sedan when officers in an unmarked car began to follow them around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday. The officers were part of Aurora’s Direct Action Response Team, or DART, a special team deployed since July to target violent crime — something police have said is often linked to stolen vehicles.
The officers were in a King Soopers parking lot at Sixth Avenue and Peoria Street when the suspects opened fire on several unmarked vehicles, police have said. Oates has described it as a “gun battle.”
The suspects’ vehicle was abandoned at 10th Avenue and Lima Street, where the chief said two guns were found and where at least one person fled the scene.
Windows were shot out at the nearby shopping center. Neighbors nearby were under a shelter-in-place alert for hours while police combed the area through the night.