One Officer Killed and Three Wounded in Gunfight With Suspect Trying to Board Bus in Lakewood, Colorado

One police officer was killed in Lakewood, Colorado, on Thursday night in a gunfight with a suspect. Three other officers were wounded by gunfire in the same incident, police said.

John Romero, the public information officer with the Lakewood Police Department, told a press conference that the suspect was also killed in the gunfire. A civilian was also injured in the incident, but the circumstances were unclear, Romero said.

According to Romero, officers were called at about 6:30 p.m. local time to the area of Colfax and Wadsworth in Lakewood, about five miles west of downtown Denver, for a report of a suspicious person. The person may have been involved in a hit-and-run earlier in the day.

When officers encountered the suspect, he was attempting to get on a Regional Transportation District (RTD) bus. Romero said that within seconds of the officers approaching the suspect, the suspect opened fire on them and a gunfight ensued.

All four wounded officers were taken to area hospitals, where one of them died. Romero said he did not have the conditions of the three wounded officers. The identities of the dead officer, the wounded officers and the suspect have not been released.

Romero said the Jefferson County Critical Incident Response Team will handle the investigation into the officer-involved shooting. He said their main concern right now is the family of the fallen officer and the officers of the Lakewood Police Department, that they want the family to know they love them and are there for them, and that the department is a family that will be there for each other.

In a statement, the RTD transportation service said it was deeply concerned by the shooting that occurred that evening aboard an RTD-contracted bus servicing Route 76 in Lakewood. Its thoughts were with those affected directly by the incident, and the safety and well-being of its customers, employees and partners remained its highest priority, the statement said.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis said in a statement posted on social media that law enforcement put their lives on the line for everyone's safety every day, and that he was heartbroken to learn that a Lakewood police officer was killed in the line of duty that evening.