TheeBadOne
Member
AURORA, Colo. -- A police shooting in an Aurora neighborhood sent a wanted felon to a hospital and has many residents in the community questioning the actions of the police.
The shooting occurred Wednesday afternoon near 17th Place and Laredo Street after police said James Edward Sweet, 23, rammed his vehicle into a police cruiser.
Aurora police officers and members of the fugitive location and apprehension group had been tailing Sweet since about 3 p.m. When he discovered that he was under surveillance, the man took off, leading officers in a brief pursuit, the Aurora Police Department said.
"The fugitive fled the scene, hit a utility box, actually continued down 17th, with officers following. Then, the fugitive intentionally rammed into one of our police cars," said Aurora police spokeswoman Kathleen Walsh.
A second squad car ran into the back of the Cadillac Escalade to prevent the man from backing up.
Police said Sweet then tried to run and pulled a gun, and that's when officers fired, sending bullets flying.
People in the neighborhood told 7NEWS that the shooting took place as many students were walking home from school and it was just a little too close for comfort for those who witnessed the shooting.
"Bam, bam, bam a whole bunch of shots, and (I saw a woman) dropped down to the side of one car over there because she heard the bullets," said witness Tommy Olson.
"We looked across this area here and we saw the man on the ground with two police dogs on each side of the man. You could tell the man was moving around," said witness Phyllis Haney.
A gun was found at the scene but investigators said Sweet didn't fire his weapon, only pointed it at officers. But police said as soon he rammed the squad car, his sport utility vehicle became a weapon and that gave officers just cause to use force.
The names of the officers involved were not being released because the investigation is continuing. The only person hurt was Sweet, who is recovering at an Aurora hospital with injuries to his leg.
Sweet was wanted on two felony warrants -- one narcotics charges out of Denver and another for aggravated motor vehicle theft out of Adams County. Heis being held for the original warrants and additional charges as a result of the felony pursuit and alleged assault on police officers.
This is the second officer-involved shooting in Aurora this year.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/2575427/detail.html
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[color:blue]Sounds like the badguy was hell bent on either getting away or taking someone with him![/color]
