Andrew Reineke Named Sole Suspect In Homicide, Shots Fired At Commerce City Officers
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (CBS4) - When doctors say he is healthy enough, Andrew Reineke, 27, will go from a hospital bed to a holding cell.
The Commerce City man is recovering at a hospital after suffering multiple gunshot wounds and undergoing surgery Tuesday night.
Investigators named him the one and only suspect in a pair of shooting incidents that occurred earlier Tuesday, including one that killed a 65-year-old Commerce City resident. That man was found in the 7100 block of Grape Street at 5:25 p.m. as officers responded to a call for a disturbance.
Those officers were told the suspect in the shooting was wearing a Broncos shirt and walking south on Fairfax Drive, according to police radio traffic obtained by CBS4.
Officers found a man matching that description in the 6900 block of Fairfax, in an alley, and took him into custody.
While talking to that man, another man in the alley fired at two of the Commerce City officers. Neither officer was hit, nor was the man in custody, although one's shirt sleeve was pierced by a bullet.
Police radio traffic first indicated this incident at 6:13 p.m.: "White truck, it came from somewhere in the alley. Did not see the shooter," one officer stated.
"Just had more shots fired," said an officer three and a half minutes later. That officer quickly requested for a shelter-in-place advisory be broadcast to the neighborhood.
"Confirmed shots into a deputy's car," aired another officer about seven minutes after the shooting began.
The suspect was shot a couple minutes later. In total, six police officers returned fire. All six are on paid administrative leave as a county-led investigation into the incident is conducted.
"While losing the six officers for a period of time will certainly impact their staffing," Commerce City spokesman Travis Huntington said Wednesday, "CCPD will still be able to cover those shifts and continue providing the standard level of police services to the community."
Huntington said Commerce City PD's investigators are working with the 17th Judicial District Attorney's Office to compile a list of charges against Reineke. CBS4 will update this story once Reineke is released from the hospital and booked in the Adams County Jail.
A search of online court records did not reveal any previous Colorado criminal history of Reineke.
The identity of the 65-year-old homicide victim will be provided by the Adams County Coroner's Office once relatives of the man have been notified.
