Colorado suspect faces charges after shooting at Aurora police officers, getting hit with return gunfire

Aurora's police chief on Monday held a news conference to talk about an ongoing investigation into a shootout involving police officers in the Colorado city's Chambers Heights neighborhood late last week. Arnadin Varupa, the suspect, was shot by officers in the arm and is now in custody.

It happened on Thursday night near an apartment complex located at 920 Dawson Street, which is a few blocks away from the intersection of 6th Avenue and Chambers Road.

Aside from the injury to the suspect, Chief Todd Chamberlain said it's "lucky no one was killed in this incident."

According to the chief, the events unfolded as follows:

• At 9:21 p.m. several people at the apartment complex called 911 about gunshots.
• Officers responded to the scene and were told by witnesses that a white male wearing dark clothing had come out of an apartment complex and started firing a gun.
• Officers called in for backup and embarked on a search for the suspect and located that person about 30 minutes later at a bus bench down the street near the intersection of Sable Boulevard and East Kentucky Drive. The officers then tried to formulate a plan to try to get the suspect into custody without firing weapons or firing less lethal rounds.
• According to Chamberlain, as police were moving into safe positions, the suspect made it clear he had seen police, so officers put out a warning to put his hands up. He almost immediately began firing at officers at that point, and one bullet went into a patrol car's hood. Officers were inside the vehicle.

• Officers then fired at the suspect and put on the sirens on their vehicles to alert the public to the danger.
• The suspect shot back and when he ran down the street one shot from an officer hit him in the arm. Officers then went up to him and took him into custody.

It turns out Varupa had an extensive criminal history which included an arrest on a charge of attempted murder. He was also just coming off of parole. Chamberlain said a full investigation into the crime is ongoing, but it appears the suspect began firing his weapon outside the apartments after "some type of dispute with a girlfriend" in one of the apartments.

Varupa faces five counts of attempted homicide on a police officer.