Aurora police shoot, kill man armed with knife at burning East Colfax hotel

AURORA | Police shot and killed a 51-year-old man on Tuesday after officers say the man set a motel room on fire and charged at them with a knife.

Interim police chief Dan Oates said during a news conference that officers and firefighters responded to a structure fire call at the Ranger Motel on East Colfax Ave. at approximately 11:15 a.m.

When they arrived, Oates said police were confronted by a man wielding a knife, who had apparently set his room on fire. The man then barricaded himself inside of another room at the same motel. Police attempted to negotiate his surrender for about an hour.

At around 12:32 p.m., Oates said the man “exited the room with a knife in his hands and ran in the direction of one of our officers.”

“At that point, shots were fired,” Oates said. “He chose to come at an armed police officer with a rather large knife. … The officers were at (a) significant distance, but he charged one of the officers.”

Oates said three officers fired on the man, but it’s so far unclear how many shots were fired in total. He added that at least two officers fired sponge grenades and that “several” fired their rifles, but it was unclear whether those officers were counted among or in addition to the three.

When asked whether the man was armed with one knife or two, Oates said “multiple” knives were recovered from the scene of the crime.

A medic treated the suspect at the scene, and he was transported to the hospital but was later pronounced dead. Oates said the man was on parole for a 2005 murder conviction and had a “significant criminal history.” His identity was not released, as Oates said the man’s family has not been notified.

Oates said police have communicated with as many as 20 witnesses and believe bystander video was taken of the incident in addition to video taken by two television stations.

“If there are any additional witnesses out there, we would love to talk to them,” he said 

He encouraged witnesses who have not been interviewed by police to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.

Oates said the Critical Incident Response Team for the 18th Judicial District will investigate the shooting.