Ronald Troyke, Arvada Police Shooting Suspect, 'Ambushed' Officer Gordon Beesley
ARVADA, Colo. (CBS4) - Arvada police say the man who shot and killed one of their own "hated" police officers. The suspect, Ronald Troyke, was shot and killed by police officers after opening fire in Olde Town Arvada.
Officers rushed to the area at 57th and Olde Wadsworth on Monday afternoon after receiving 911 calls about an officer being hit by gunfire near the Arvada Library.
Officer Gordon Beesley died. He spent 19 years with the Arvada Police Department. He was a School Resource Officer at Oberon Middle School and was working patrol while school was out for the summer.
Beesley's background includes working on patrol, and with the traffic unit as a motorcycle officer.
Arvada Police Chief Link Strate said Beesley was "ambushed by a person who expressed hatred of police officers."
"I can tell you Gordon was targeted because he was wearing an Arvada police uniform and a badge," said Strate. "While this was a deliberate act of violence, we still believe this was an isolated incident and our community is safe."
An autopsy on Troyke is expected to take at least six weeks. The cause and manner of death will be released in that report, the coroner's office says.
Details about the Troyke's motive have not been released.
Police searched a vehicle in the area for possible explosives.
One other person, John Hurley who is described as a good Samaritan, also died.
After about nine hours of investigating, Arvada police reopened Olde Town Square to allow people who left their vehicles in the cordoned-off area could pick them up.
Strate says the shooting was an isolated incident, and the community is safe.
Arvada police set up an emergency assistance center at the Shrine of St. Anne's School from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
