4 teens accused of shooting at Aurora police and eluding officers in a stolen car

AURORA | Police say they’ve arrested four teenage minors accused of stealing a car in Aurora, shooting at police who tracked down the vehicle and then led officers from Denver and Aurora on a car chase across both cities.

The incident began at about 8 p.m. Thursday when the owner of gray Kia called Aurora dispatchers to report it as stolen from their garage at a home on the 24200 block of East Mexico Avenue.

“The caller was tracking the stolen vehicle’s movements through a GPS monitoring system,” police said in a statement.

About an hour later, officers in an unmarked police car located the Kia near East 17th Avenue and Trenton Street in Denver.

“Officers followed the vehicle to the area of 21st Avenue and Ulster Street, at which point multiple shots were fired at police from the stolen Kia,” police said.

The unmarked police car was struck with a bullet, in addition to two nearby parked cars.

“Fortunately, the officers were not injured, and the two parked vehicles were unoccupied at the time of the shooting,” police said.

The officers said they took cover from the gunfire and did not shoot back as the driver of Kia sped away.

The officer pursued the car, and Denver police joined the chase as it wound through Green Valley Ranch and Aurora.

“Officers attempted to disable the stolen vehicle with a Precision Immobilization Technique, or PIT maneuver, near the intersection of Tower Road and Montview Boulevard, which was unsuccessful,” police said.

Shortly after, one of the Kia’s car tires went flat.

“The suspects abandoned the vehicle in the 1700 block of Cathay Court and ran from police,” police said.

Officers from both cities searched for the suspects after they fled the car, detaining four juveniles.

“The four suspects are in custody at an Arapahoe County juvenile detention facility and are all being held on charges of two counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count each of second-degree burglary and aggravated motor vehicle theft,” police said.

Police said one suspect is 15, and the other three are 16. One of the teens is from Denver and the other three are from Aurora.

“Investigators from numerous Aurora Police Department units responded to assist with the preliminary investigation, gathering evidence from three separate scenes that included the recovery of over 20 shell casings believed to be fired at police by the suspects, as well as multiple firearms,” police said.

Acting Aurora Deputy Chief Chris Juul said wanton violence like this is intolerable.

“The Aurora Police Department does not and will not tolerate acts of violence committed against the men and women who are dedicated to keeping our community safe, and that includes our law enforcement, fire and emergency medical service partners here and throughout the metro area” Juul said. “As evidenced by the substantial, multi-agency response to last night’s attack on our officers, we will dedicate all our resources to ensure those who are responsible are identified, captured and successfully prosecuted.”