A gun-toting man who a Colorado deputy shot and killed in a parking lot outside a family entertainment center during an “active shooter” call Saturday night is believed to be connected to a female who shot another woman inside the business just minutes earlier, authorities said.
The shootings happened just before midnight at the Main Event in Highlands Ranch, a popular venue that hosts bowling, birthday parties and other events, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said.
The first deputy to arrive at the scene encountered a male wielding a gun in the parking lot, according to the sheriff’s office. The man refused to comply with the deputy’s orders to drop the weapon and turned toward the deputy, who subsequently fired and struck the man.
Despite deputies performing life-saving measures on the man, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Deputies then learned that a shooting involving two females had occurred inside the business.
“It was packed. There were a lot of patrons still here when the shots rang out,” Sheriff Darren Weekly told reporters at the scene, adding that multiple rounds were fired inside the business.
A female victim was found inside with a gunshot wound to her chest and another wound to a foot, the sheriff’s office said. She was rushed to a local hospital and is expected to survive.
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The female shooter was taken into custody. No further details about the female shooter or the male who was killed were immediately provided.
Weekly said investigators believe the male killed in the parking lot was connected to the shooting that happened inside.
Detectives are interviewing several witnesses as the shooting investigation remains ongoing.
