A woman is dead, and the suspect is in the hospital after a shooting in Broomfield on Thursday morning.
According to a release from the Broomfield Police Department, officers responded to a disturbance just after 6:30 a.m. on Thursday at the Arista Flats Apartments, 8200 Arista Place.
Police said a man in the unit could be heard yelling and then began to shoot at officers, into other apartments and out into the parking lot.
“The suspect was making threats and firing gunshots … at surrounding units and into the parking lot,” Broomfield Police Department Public Information Officer Rachel Haslett said. “We treated it as an active shooter, because people in the area were in danger.”
The apartments and surrounding area were put under a shelter-in-place order while SWAT units responded. Police could be heard on scene ordering someone to “put the gun down” and “come out with your hands up” through a loudspeaker.
Haslett said that police forced entry into the unit to apprehend the shooter, and several officers fired their weapons and shot the suspect. Shortly after 10 a.m., Broomfield police tweeted that a suspect had been taken into custody and that the scene was secure.
The suspected shooter and a woman who was found inside the unit were both taken to a hospital. The woman was declared dead at the hospital as a result of a gunshot wound. Her name has not yet been released by the coroner’s office.
The suspected shooter, a 34-year-old man, suffered serious injuries and remains at the hospital.Several officers also suffered minor injuries and were treated and released.
Police have not yet said how the man and the woman may have known each other, and said the investigation is in its “early stages.”
Reya Roussel is a resident of the apartment building, and said the suspected shooter lived in the unit next door.
“I woke up right before my alarm to the sound of banging on a door … and then I heard screaming,” she said. “About 15 minutes later I started hearing metal clanging sounds like something hitting the balcony, but it was gunshots.”
Roussel and some other residents in the building were evacuated by police. According to a Tweet from the department, evacuees who still cannot reenter their units should head to the north side of the 1stBANK Center, where they will be transported to the Broomfield Community Center as a temporary evacuation center.
“This is a large and complex crime scene,” Broomfield police wrote in a release issued shortly after 4 p.m. “Roads and buildings in the area may remain closed for several more hours.”
The police department asks residents to call the non-emergency line at 303-438-6400 if they discover any items or damage that may be related to the incident when returning to their homes and vehicles.
The officers who fired their weapons during the call were placed on administrative leave while the 17th Judicial District’s Critical Incident Response Team investigates, as per department policy.