EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — A Sunday evening shooting in El Paso County, Colorado, left one sheriff’s deputy, an unidentified woman and a gunman dead.
The incident began with a reported shooting at around 5:30 p.m. local time, prompting the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office to issue a shelter-in-place for the Security-Widefield neighborhood, KDVR-TV reported.
First responders included two sheriff’s deputies and an officer from the Fountain Police Department, all three of whom were fired upon by 33-year-old John Paz when they arrived, The Denver Gazette reported.
According to the sheriff’s office, Deputy Andrew Peery, 39, was shot by Paz, while the other deputy and officer returned gunfire until backup arrived. Life-saving measures performed on Peery were unsuccessful, and the department confirmed his line-of-duty death at 8 p.m. Sunday, KDVR reported.
Meanwhile, detectives from the Colorado Springs Police Department obtained a search warrant for the home, inside which they found Paz dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, the TV station reported.
According to the Gazette, deputies also found a woman dead in the front yard of a nearby residence.
The El Paso County Coroner’s Office will release the cause of death for Peery, the woman and Paz, KDVR reported.
The Air Force Academy confirmed to the Gazette on Monday that Paz was currently employed at the 94th Flying Training Squadron at the academy’s airfield.
Dean Miller, academy spokesman, confirmed to the newspaper that the suspect had worked as a squadron aviation resource management technician since Dec. 5.
Meanwhile, the sheriff’s deputy who fired their weapon at Paz has been placed on administrative leave per department policy, the Gazette reported.
“My thoughts and condolences are with the family and friends of Deputy Peery and all our neighbors in law enforcement who put their lives at risk to serve others,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in a prepared statement.
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