Child Dies, Woman & Child Critically Injured In Shooting, 1 Arrested

WESTMINSTER, Colo. (CBS4)- One person has been arrested in connection to a shooting in Westminster on Thursday afternoon that left one child dead and a woman and child with critical injuries. The man injured in the shooting is expected to survive.

The shooting happened at 5150 W. 80th Avenue in Westminster, that's near 80th and Sheridan, just after 3 p.m. The motive for the shooting has not been released.

The vehicle of interest was located and the driver arrested just hours later.

James Sisneros lives just a block away on 79th. He had just dropped his daughter off at a neighboring dental office when police sirens started blaring.

"There was a gentleman who was there he had a gunshot wound to his chest they were working on him profusely," Sisneros said.

Sisneros wasn't the only witness in the area. Several patrons from a nearby bar heard the shots and rushed outside to see what was happening

"They laid him down they were holding pressure on his arm the paramedic came up and lifted up his shirt and their was a bullet hole there and then lifted up his leg and he was shot there," one man said.

Cheri Spottke with the Westminster Police Department said the relationships of the victims to the suspect are unknown but that the woman and children were of no relationship to the man who was also shot.

Within hours of the shooting Westminster police were asking for the public's help locating the vehicle of interest, a black Toyota 4-door, with Colorado license plate NPQ-091. That vehicle was located and the driver arrested at 5:48 p.m. in Castle Rock.

Police cordoned off the parking lot of the Comfort Dental office as well as the neighboring parking lot of the Cedarwood Square Office Complex.

"The Comfort Dental people told us we were on lockdown," Ariel Sisneros said, "Everyone inside was okay."

Spottke said the shooting happened in the parking lot behind the Comfort Dental, but evidence markers scattered a wide area.

Copter4 flew over the scene where police cruisers were parked on the street surrounding the parking lots of the office complex and the Comfort Dental.

Several officers were seen collecting evidence from the parking lot and the entrance to the office building. There was a silver truck with the rear passenger door open in the middle of the parking lot, not in a parking space.

There were several small orange cones and yellow markers with numbers on the ground. Those typically mark where evidence has been found, including bullets.

It is unclear what happened leading up to the shooting.

"In today's world you never know where it's going to happen, whenever someone loses their trigger," Sisneros said.

Police closed 80th at the intersection during the investigation. All lanes were reopened by 10 p.m. Thursday.

In:
• Sheridan Boulevard
• Westminster News