Aurora shooting suspect crashes into RTD light rail, police say; 4 taken to hospital
Four people have been taken to the hospital after a shooting and crash involving a Regional Transportation District light rail train in Aurora.
Aurora police say a shooting took place around 8:15 a.m. in the 18400 block of East Kepner Place near South Racine Street. Several suspects are in the hospital, in custody, or both, according to Aurora police.
The suspects fled the scene in a car and, several minutes later, crashed into an RTD train near East Ellsworth Avenue and Sable Boulevard, about three-and-a-half miles to the northwest, police say.
That train is now partially off the tracks as a result of the crash.
Police say the shooting appears to be "family-related," there are no outstanding suspects, and no threat to the public in connection to the shooting, Aurora Police Cmdr. Matthew Brukbacher said at a news conference around 10:45 a.m.
Patrick Dickman likes to listen to police and fire scanners. When he heard a call about the trail wreck, he decided to check it out. When he arrived, he saw a car full of people had collided with an RTD light rail train.
"I watched them -- all four of the suspects -- get cut out of the vehicle," he told CBS News Colorado.
"It appears, based on the video, that the Mazda tried to beat the train crossing the intersection and ended up striking, almost directly against the driver's compartment of that train," Brukbacher said.
Four people -- three men and a woman -- were taken to the hospital, Brukbacher said.
"The three that they hauled out first were moving," Dickman said, "but the guy that was driving was not moving."
The driver of the car sustained critical injuries and the other occupants of the car had minor injuries, according to Brukbacher. A conductor and four passengers were on the train at the time of the crash. The conductor was taken to the hospital with minor injuries but all four passengers declined help from paramedics, Brukbacher said. A passenger in the car was also struck by gunfire and sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Several people have been detained and charges are pending against at least some of them, Brukbacher said.
Aurora police say they're in the early stages of investigating the incident but all lanes of Sable Boulevard at East Ellsworth Avenue are expected to be closed in both directions.
Aurora police say they're investigating in partnership with RTD Transit Police and once the investigation is complete, work will begin on getting the train back on the tracks.
RTD referred questions to Aurora police but said it's operating a shuttle bus service between the Florida and 13th Avenue stations.
Dickman said this was not what he was expecting to see when he came out to the crash morning: "I thought it was just a driver, like when they had up on the Exposition, when the train derailed over there, but nope."
You can watch Aurora police's full news conference here:
