Colorado authorities search for suspect accused of multiple road rage incidents

The Loveland Police Department says it's searching for a suspect who is accused of fleeing a traffic stop and getting into multiple road rage incidents on Sunday.

According to the police department, around 12:08 p.m., an officer saw a Toyota Sequoia with no license plates parked at a local business in the 100 block of South Taft Avenue with a male and female inside.

When they left the parking lot and began to head eastbound on West 1st Street, the officer attempted to make a traffic stop on the vehicle, and that's when they came to a stop near the intersection of West 1st Street and Harrison Avenue. 

As the officer stepped out of the patrol vehicle, the suspects then drove away. 

Due to the erratic driving from the suspects, the officer decided to call off the pursuit after the suspects drove through an intersection and almost collided with a vehicle that was headed northbound, according to Loveland PD. 

At approximately 12:21 p.m., the Loveland Emergency Communications Center received a report from a female driver. She said that she was driving in a Jeep Wrangler with a passenger when her vehicle had been shot by a male suspect in another vehicle on East Eisenhower Boulevard and Hahns Peak Drive. 

The caller described the vehicle involved in the incident, and it matched the same description as the one that fled the traffic stop. 

Shortly afterward, the Weld County Dispatch Center received a 911 call from a driver, who said that their vehicle had been shot at on I-25 near mile marker 235. 

The description that the driver provided to dispatchers also matched the same of the vehicle and driver involved in the traffic stop as the Dacono Police Department investigates that incident. 

While detectives from the Loveland PD were assigned the case, through interviews with the victims inside the Jeep, they were able to identify the male suspect and female passenger in the vehicle during the original traffic stop that was allegedly connected to the road rage incidents. 

On Tuesday, detectives obtained an arrest warrant for the suspect who was identified as 45-year-old Justin Winter Vanpelt for second-degree attempted murder, vehicular eluding, possession of a weapon by a previous offender, and illegal discharge of a firearm, according to Loveland PD.

Loveland PD says Vanpelt is currently not in custody and is considered armed and dangerous, while detectives currently don't have charges for the female passenger in the vehicle with Vanpelt at the time of the shootings. 

Anyone who witnessed the incidents or have additional information is asked to contact the Loveland Police Department Tip Line at 970-962-2032.