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A La Plata County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a man armed with an ax handle and a baseball bat Tuesday north of Durango, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
The shooting occurred about 2:50 p.m. in the 28000 block of U.S. Highway 550, about 2 miles north of city limits.
The incident began about 2:40 p.m. when dispatchers received multiple 911 calls reporting a man and a woman involved in a physical disturbance inside a moving vehicle traveling north on Highway 550, near northern city limits, according to a Wednesday CBI news release.
A sheriff’s deputy and a Durango Police Department officer located the vehicle in the 28000 block of Highway 550, south of Trimble Lane, and initiated a traffic stop, the release said.
A preliminary investigation, including review of officer body-camera footage, indicates the female passenger ran toward law enforcement for help. The male driver, armed with an ax handle and baseball bat, advanced toward the woman and the deputy, the release said.
The deputy fired his service weapon.
Multiple officers “immediately” provided first aid, but life-saving efforts were unsuccessful, according to the release. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
CBI on Wednesday evening declined to release the names of the suspect or the deputy.
Per protocol, the deputy was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by CBI and the Southwest Regional Shoot Team, the release said.
The female passenger was uninjured, the release said.
Residents at the scene shared harrowing accounts – some with details differing from those of the CBI’s preliminary investigation findings.
Durango resident Cat Jaffee said she witnessed the incident at close range from inside her car. Her passenger, who requested anonymity, also saw the incident unfold.
They said the man was standing outside his vehicle waving his arms as police vehicles approached. Neither saw any weapons in his hands.
The passenger said an officer got out of his patrol vehicle and almost immediately shot the man five times at close range.
A CBI spokesman said he could not confirm the number of shots fired.
The man writhed on the ground briefly before going still, Jaffee said.
She recorded a video at 2:54 p.m. showing officers attempting to resuscitate the man soon after he was shot.
Jaffee said neither she nor her passenger saw any altercation taking place and never saw the woman during the incident.
“(It was) incredibly alarming to us that this (was) a police shooting on the side of the road on a Tuesday afternoon in broad daylight where there are people driving,” she said. “Like, was that the best course of action? Who gets to be accountable for the decisions that were made?”
The CBI spokesman said he could not address specific questions Wednesday, including diverging eyewitnesses accounts, citing the open investigation.
He said the man killed was 31.
Animas Valley resident Chris Wherry said he was working in his home office when he heard law enforcement sirens. Ten or 15 seconds later, he heard multiple gunshots.
Wherry said he saw a woman being “somewhat detained” by law enforcement and the man lying in the street behind his own car, presumably dead. Officers surrounded the body, he said.
CBI said it will release additional information as it becomes available.
epond@durangoherald.com
