Thornton police officer shoots, kills suspect outside Margaret Carpenter Recreation Center in Colorado

Police in Thornton investigated a shooting near the Margaret Carpenter Recreation Center on Tuesday morning. One Thornton police officer was involved in the shooting with a suspect, identified as an adult male, who was rushed to the hospital and died. 

The rec center is located in the 11100 block of Colorado Boulevard.  

According to police, it all began when a Thornton police officer noticed a vehicle driving erratically near the intersection of E. 112th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard just before 8 a.m. When the officer tried to contact the driver, the adult male pulled over but then ran away from the traffic stop. 

That's when another Thornton police officer who came to assist saw the male driver in a nearby parking lot. That's when police said the suspect fired a gun at the officer who then fired back, striking him. The suspect was rushed to the hospital where he died. 

The officer was not injured. The suspect has not been identified. 

The CBS News Colorado helicopter flew over the scene where several police vehicles were on scene with officers who were gathering evidence. There were several orange cones set up in parking spaces in the lot and two vehicles, a white car and a blue sedan with windows that seemed to be shot out or broken. 

There was also a police motorcycle on its side in the parking lot near the orange cones and the vehicle with the broken windows. 

Crime scene tape cordoned off the entrance and a portion of the parking lot. 

One witness described how quickly it all unfolded. 

"He was coming pretty fast, he just pulled his gun out and he said he was gonna shoot and then started out of nowhere 'boom, boom, boom'... it happened quickly," said witness Emmanuel Chavez. 

The investigation will be turned over to the 17h Judicial District's Critical Incident Response Team, and the officer involved in this incident will be placed on administrative leave, per standard protocol.