AURORA | A man shot by Aurora police Monday night was wanted on an attempted murder charge from Federal heights and fired a gun at officers, police said.
The man, whose name has not been released, was seriously hurt in the exchange of gunfire with a police officer near Chambers Road and Smith Road, police said in a statement Tuesday.
The officer who shot the man, a 26-year APD veteran, was not injured, police said.
The incident started around 8 p.m. Monday when officers spotted the wanted man in the back seat of a taxi cab near the Crossland Hotel at East 38th Avenue and Chambers.
Police said the attempted murder the man was wanted for happened a day prior in Federal Heights and involved a gun.
Officers from APD’s Strategic Response Team and Fugitive Apprehension and Surveillance Team had learned that the man was holding the taxi driver at gunpoint and refused to let him leave the vehicle. At Smith and Chambers the driver fled the vehicle, leaving the wanted man in the backseat.
Officers moved in to try to arrest the man, at which point the police exchanged gunfire with the man. Police have not said who fired first, but said officers issued several warnings before the shooting.
The man was wounded but rushed to an area hospital.
Aurora police Chief Nick Metz said during a Tuesday press conference that he received the officer’s body camera footage and believes the officer acted appropriately. He also said another officer on scene, who is trained as a paramedic, stepped in and likely saved the wounded man’s life.