Colorado Attack: 4 Deputies Wounded, 1 Dead
Local Editor
US authorities in suburban Denver were investigating what led a 37-year-old man to fire more than 100 rounds in his apartment on sheriff's deputies, killing one and injuring four others. Two civilians were also injured.
The Douglas County coroner identified the suspect as Matthew Riehl.
A YouTube user named Matthew Riehl posted a YouTube video Dec. 13, saying he wanted to
replace Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock and railing against the sheriff and other officers in profane, highly personal terms.
The incident began around 5:15 am at Copper Canyon Apartments, a landscaped 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.
Spurlock said deputies came under fire almost immediately and were shot "very, very quickly" after entering the apartment and trying to talk with the suspect, who was holed up inside a bedroom.
"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 suspect was well-known to authorities in the Denver area but had no criminal record, said Spurlock, who declined to name him until his identity was confirmed.]
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."
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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