Shots fired at Pueblo officers during vehicle chase, and an officer returns fire

Police in Pueblo fired shots at a moving vehicle, which had just been carjacked from a 70-year-old victim, after shots were fired from inside the stolen vehicle at pursuing officers, police said.

The incident unfolded Tuesday morning and began with the attempted theft of an ATM in which a suspect fired a rifle at a witness, police said in a news release.

At about 7:45 a.m. a suspect in a dark-colored Ford F350 pickup truck attempted to steal an ATM from the Sunflower bank on the southside of the city, police said. The suspect fired a rifle at a nearby witness.

Officers arrived and the suspect fled in the pickup. A pursuit ensued and was then called off because of high speeds in residential areas and public safety considerations.

Police determined that the pickup was stolen and it was spotted at about 3:30 p.m. near West Pueblo Boulevard and Lake Avenue. The Ford stopped in a business parking lot and officers were establishing a perimeter when the people who had been in the truck carjacked a vehicle from a 70-year-old woman who was nearby.

Suspects in the carjacked vehicle led police on a 20-minute pursuit that ended when an officer used a patrol vehicle to bump the fleeing vehicle and “disable” it, police said. During the pursuit shots were fired from the eluding vehicle at officers who were chasing it. One officer returned gun fire.

Three people in the vehicle were taken into custody. Two suffered injuries and were taken to a local hospital. Further details on the injuries were not released. The third suspect was uninjured, and no officers were injured.

The 10th Judicial District Critical Incident Team, led by the Pueblo County Sheriff’s
Office, is investigating the police shooting. Officers involved are on leave per department protocol.

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