THORNTON, Colo. (KDVR) — The Thornton Police Department says a man is dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after attempting to shoot an officer.
The incident started at around 3:55 p.m. Thursday in the 7000 block of 120th Ave. Police responded to a call from a family asking for them to check on another family member that was allegedly acting erratic and appeared unstable.
When police arrived in the area, they found the man inside his vehicle. When an officer tried to make contact with the man, police said he pulled out a gun and shot at the officer. Police then returned fire, TPD said.
Neither the officer nor the suspect were injured at this point.
A crisis intervention team trained police negotiator tried to deescalate the situation and get the man to put his gun down, but police said he refused.
Police said negotiations continued for nearly an hour and a half, when the man decided to shoot himself outside of the vehicle.
He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
His identity will be released from the Adams County Coroner’s Office following notification of next of kin.