DENVER — A man fired more than 100 rounds at sheriff’s deputies in Colorado early Sunday, killing one and injuring four others, before being fatally shot in what authorities called an ambush. Two civilians were also injured.
Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said deputies came under fire almost immediately after entering a suburban Denver apartment and trying to talk with the suspect, who was holed up inside a bedroom.
‘‘I do know that all of them were shot very, very quickly. They all went down almost within seconds of each other, so it was more of an ambush-type of attack on our officers,’’ Spurlock said. ‘‘He knew we were coming and we obviously let him know that we were there.’’
The wounded deputies tried to pull the fallen officer, identified as Zackari Parrish, out of the line of further gunfire but were unable to because of their own injuries and had to crawl to safety, Spurlock said.
The Douglas County coroner identified the suspect as 37-year-old Matthew Riehl.
A YouTube user named Matthew Riehl posted a YouTube video Dec. 13, saying he wanted to replace Spurlock and railing against the sheriff and other officers in profane, highly personal terms.
The incident occurred about 5:15 a.m. at Copper Canyon Apartments, an apartment complex in Highland Ranch, 16 miles south of Denver.
Authorities had left the home barely an hour earlier in response to a complaint of a ‘‘verbal disturbance’’ involving two men, the sheriff’s office said. One of the men told them the suspect ‘‘was acting bizarre and might be having a mental breakdown’’ but the deputies found no evidence of a crime.
When deputies were called back, a man who had left came by to give them a key and granted permission to enter the home, leaving again before shots were fired.
‘‘The suspect was just making a ton of noise and annoying everyone around him,’’ Spurlock said.
Four officers, including Parrish, were shot from a bedroom around 6 a.m., forcing the retreat. A SWAT team entered the apartment at about 7:30 a.m. in an exchange of gunfire that left the gunman dead and another officer injured.
Vira Cover, who lives in a building about 50 yards from the shooting, was woken up by a phone call from her fiance, Steve Silknitter, who warned her about what was happening and urged her to stay inside. Soon afterward she said she heard about 15 to 20 very loud shots fired over about 30 seconds. She sat on the couch with her cats and called Silknitter back before turning on the television to try to find out more about what was happening.
‘‘I couldn’t believe this was happening in our backyard,’’ she said.
Silknitter heard the shots fired, too, but from about a half mile away, and was stopped at a police roadblock as he tried to get back home from work. Then he said he saw police in tactical gear speed past him in a pickup truck.
Silknitter said he lived 2 miles away from the movie theater in Aurora, Colo., where 12 people were killed in a shooting in 2012. He said he never would have expected anything like this in his apartment complex, where the only noise you might normally hear is children running around upstairs.
‘‘Where do I move to where I don’t have to worry about someone shooting us?’’ asked Silknitter, who is now considering getting a concealed weapons permit.
The suspect had no criminal record, said Spurlock. The sheriff did not release any details about the weapons and ammunition used except to say the suspect had a rifle.
He also did not know if law enforcement had any prior knowledge of firearms being in the home but the possibility always weighs on deputies’ minds.
‘‘We respond to every call anticipating that everyone has a gun. This is Colorado. Everybody has a gun,’’ Spurlock said.
Riehl said in his Dec. 13 YouTube video, called ‘‘Fire Sheriff Spurlock,’’ that he would run as a libertarian, ending with holiday greetings and a vow to ‘‘fire all these bums come early next year.’’
Riehl was vague about his political beliefs and personal grievances, though his animosity ran deep. He flashed the business card of an officer who, he said, shows up at homes after sunset with an attractive woman and ‘‘will then ambush you from behind the door.’’
Parrish, the slain officer, was 29 and a married father of two young children. He came to the department seven months ago after working as an officer for the nearby Castle Rock Police Department. Spurlock called him a ‘‘good kid’’ who was eager to work.
‘‘His wife told me today that he loved this job more than he had loved any job he ever had,’’ the sheriff said.
Describing his meeting with the widow, the sheriff said, “When I sat with his wife and held her hand, I could see in her eyes that her life was over.’’
