3 injured during shooting at Colorado house party, gunmen escape

Three people were shot early Sunday morning at a reported house party in northeast Denver. One Denver Police Department officer shot at an armed male who police say wouldn't drop his handgun. However, that person ran off and was not found. 

It's not known if the armed male was injured. 

DPD Chief Ron Thomas said officers heard what they believed to be an exchange of gunfire as they pulled up to the scene. They were responding to a call for a large fight in the 5100 block of North Biscay Court in the Green Valley Ranch neighborhood. Calls were made to 9-1-1 at 1:50 a.m., 10 minutes before the change from Daylight Saving Time, according to Chief Thomas.

The officers ran toward the perceived gunfire, he said, as they encountered people running from it. They discovered the armed suspect and drew their firearms. 

"They challenged him," Thomas explained, "and he did not drop the gun and continued to be a threat. So one officer, I believe, fired shots at the individual. It's unknown if that individual was struck. We searched, were unable to locate that individual."  

During the search, the officers did find three people who had been shot. Their injuries appeared to be to their legs or lower extremities, Thomas said. The injuries were classified as serious but non-life threatening.

Officers also found two handguns during the search. 

Thomas clarified that the three shooting victims were believed to have been shot during the exchange of gunfire the officers heard as they arrived, and not by the one officer's shots fired at the armed male who wouldn't drop his gun. An investigation will determine if that was the case.

Critical incident protocol was initiated, Thomas said, meaning Colorado State Patrol and Colorado Bureau of Investigation agents were responding to assist DPD's detectives in their investigation, but also conduct their own. That will include the independent interviewing of witnesses and the involved DPD officers, per Thomas. 

Thomas said the shooting occurred during what neighbors described as a large house party. 

Three shootings occurred across the state the previous night, Friday into Saturday, also Halloween. Two peopled were killed after gunfire erupted at a house party in Clifton just before midnight, according to the Mesa County Sheriff's Office. In Pueblo, several 9-1-1 calls were made about gunshots overheard at 2:45 a.m. Two people were injured; one of them passed away at the hospital. Pueblo PD said a gunfire detection system reported 27 rounds were fired in that incident. 

That same morning, a 19-year-old woman was shot and injured on the southwest side of Montrose. Local and state authorities are trying to interview witnesses, including those who left the scene before law enforcement arrived, according to the Montrose County Sheriff's Office. 

The identities of any suspects in those last three incidents have not been released.