Officer Shot By Attempted Burglary Suspect: 'His Intention Was To Kill'
DENVER (CBS4) - A Denver police officer is sharing her story after being shot in the line of duty.
Officer Rachel Eid was hit in the lower leg on Feb. 22.
Eid and other officers were trying to locate Gerardino Gonzalez and another suspect before the shooting.
The two men were allegedly trying to burglarize homes. Eid first spotted them in an alley peering over fences in a suspicious way. That was after she and her partner interviewed a resident nearby who said two Hispanic men had just tried to burglarize his home.
The department posted an interview with Eid overnight on their YouTube channel. In it, the officer described the moments before Gonzalez shot her near 37th Avenue and Grove Street.
"As soon as he saw me I could tell it was different. He changed. His face changed. His posture changed and he puffed up. And he just locked eyes with me and started kind of made a beeline right at me. I was running towards him. He started to like speed up and walk real fast right at me with his eyes on me. So I remember looking at his eyes for a second and then quick I looked down and saw 'Oh he has a gun in his right hand,'" she said.
"It was very clear to me that his intention was to kill me."
Police shot and killed Gonzalez after a brief chase.
The Denver district attorney ruled the shooting was justified.