AURORA | A man who broke into an East Colfax Avenue auto shop early Saturday morning, cut himself and threatened police with a utility knife died of a suicide, the Arapahoe County coroner’s office said.
Norberto Gonzales, 29, died from a self-inflicted “sharp-force injury” to his neck, the coroner said.
The incident started shortly after 2:30 a.m. when officers responded to an auto shop at 9230 E. Colfax Ave. on a report of a burglary in progress. Police said security cameras showed a person inside the building.
When the officers arrived, they found a man inside who was injured and armed with a “lethal cutting instrument,” police said in a statement. Aurora police spokesman Officer Bill Hummel said after investigators processed the crime scene they determined the man was armed with a utility knife.
The man then started cutting himself when the officers approached and threatened police with the weapon, police said.
Police used a Taser as well as bean bag projectiles to try to stop the man, Hummel said, but that didn’t work, and the man retreated to another room inside the shop.
When police reached the man, he was unresponsive, and he later died at a hospital.
“During this incident, officers showed great restraint and no duty weapons were fired,” police said in the statement.
Hummel said investigators aren’t yet sure what connection, if any, the man had to the auto shop before breaking in Saturday morning.