A man who was shot by police during an officer-involved shooting Thursday continued to receive treatment in Colorado Springs hospital as of Saturday morning, according to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.
Officers responded to a shooting in the 1600 block of South Nevada Avenue at 10:12 a.m. Thursday after a man fired rounds from a handgun into an occupied vehicle, said Lt. James Sokolik, a spokesman for the Police Department.
The vehicle drove away, and the man ran from the scene, he added.
In a statement released Saturday, El Paso County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Lt. Deborah Mynatt said Vanguard School officials reported a man on school property who matched the description of the suspect from the shooting.
Police contacted the suspect at the intersection of Hunter Avenue and South Corona Avenue and he pointed a gun at officers. At least one officer fired their gun at the suspect, Mynatt said.
Pat Wollbrinck stood at her kitchen sink gazing through her window that looks out across Hunter Avenue. She saw a man head west down Hunter Avenue on the north side of the sidewalk past the grounds of The Vangaurd School toward the intersection with South Corona Avenue when the man raised his arms, brought his hands together and fired between four and six gunshots.
“He walked purposefully and slow,” Wollbrinck said.
A garage near the back of the property where Wollbrinck lives appeared to have at least one bullet hole inside it.
The man continued to elude officers and pointed a gun at officers again in the 1700 block of South Wahsatch Avenue. At least one officer shot at the suspect at least one time and one of those rounds injured the suspect, Mynatt said.
Officers and medical personnel immediately tended to the suspect who was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries, Mynatt said. No officers or residents were injured.
The six officers who were involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave in accordance with Colorado Springs Police Department policy, Mynatt said.
Investigators marked off with police tape a section of Hunter Avenue, South Corona Avenue and South Wahsatch Avenue for multiple hours.
A fence running along the west side of South Wahsatch Avenue appeared to have at least two gunshot holes blown through it.
Police recovered a gun from the area where they found the suspect, Sokolik said.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office will take over the investigation, as is typical with similar incidents, police said.
Officers continued to search for the vehicle the suspect shot.
The Gazette’s Hugh Johnson contributed to this report.
