Officer injured, 1 suspect dead, 1 arrested in robbery of postal worker in Lakewood
One juvenile female suspect died after a shootout with Lakewood police agents on Monday, and one agent was injured in a response to the robbery of a mailman. Another juvenile female suspect was arrested.
The second suspect was arrested in Frederick after the shooting involving the suspect who died and police agents who responded to the first scene.
The officer had non-life-threatening injuries, and there was no report of injuries to the second suspect or the mailman involved.
The shooting happened just before 3:30 p.m. According to a Lakewood PD public information officer, Lakewood police agents were dispatched to W Alameda Ave near S Oak Street just before 3:30 p.m. in response to a call that a postal worker was robbed by two people. Officers found a female suspect a block away near the Grease Monkey auto repair shop.
That suspect shot at agents, the police department said, and at least one agent fired back. The suspect and a female police agent were both shot. That suspect later died.
Lakewood PD says both suspects were minors.
Doorbell camera video shared with CBS News Colorado captured the sound of the shootout.
"We got yelled at to go inside because all of us came outside," said Ashley Cole, who lives feet from where the mailman was robbed. "He did not deserve to be in the middle of any of that. Apparently, they were trying to steal his mail truck to get away."
Neighbors who live nearby said they saw two suspects trying to get away in a black vehicle. That's when one of the suspects approached the mailman and started tussling with him. The suspect ran away on foot toward W Alameda and S Owens. That's where she was confronted by police, and she opened fire on one of the officers.
"Our agents returned fire; they did hit the suspect. She was taken to a local hospital," said John Romero, the pubic information officer for the Lakewood Police Department.
Dozens of cop cars flooded the area. Pastor Joe Gomez was driving by just after those shots rang out.
"Just shocked to see how many officers were responding. I could tell that something bad had happened because of the response," Gomez said. "They were trying to render aid, they were calling in an ambulance to come and try to help."
The scene remained active for several hours, as police continued searching for the second suspect. The second suspect was finally found around 6 p.m. in Frederick. At 9:30 p.m., police announced the suspect who was shot died. The identity of the suspects are not being released because they're minors.
"Colorado lately, the crime has gotten so bad; they don't do anything to clean it up; they're just letting it happen," Tamzyn Swindle said. "It might be unusual that it's in this neighborhood, but it's not unusual that it's in Colorado these days."
