Colorado sheriff's deputy shoots and kills man during active shooter call at family entertainment venue in Douglas County
A Douglas County sheriff's deputy shot and killed a man in the parking lot of Main Event, a family-friendly entertainment venue, the sheriff's office said, and now a woman is in custody.
The shooting occurred around 11:50 p.m. Saturday at the Highlands Ranch location of the venue near Centennial Boulevard and South Broadway. Another woman was shot and taken to the hospital but is expected to survive and a third woman was taken to the hospital for a non-life-threatening medical issue, according to the sheriff's office.
Deputies responded to calls of an active shooter at the venue late Saturday and said they saw a man in the parking lot with a handgun. According to the sheriff's office, the deputies told the man to drop the gun, but say he turned toward the deputies, prompting one to shoot him. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
When deputies went inside Main Event, they found a woman with a gunshot wound. She was taken to the hospital. Investigators believe another woman, 23-year-old Nevaeha Crowley-Sanders, of Denver, shot that woman. She was taken into custody at the scene.
She was arrested on suspicion of criminal attempt first-degree murder and first-degree assault and is being held in the Douglas County Jail.
Court date, bond, and attorney information for Crowley-Sanders wasn't immediately available.
A screenshot of security footage from inside Main Event released by the sheriff's office appears to show her walking into the building with a handgun already out and pointed.
Main Event includes a number of arcade games, escape rooms, mini golf, bowling, laser tag, and more, and it describes itself as "easy for parents, awesome for kids" on its website.
Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly, in an early morning news conference, said the woman who was taken to the hospital was shot in the chest and had another injury on her foot.
Weekly said there's no ongoing danger to the public and investigators believe everyone involved has been contacted by deputies.
The shooting by the deputy is being investigated by the 23rd Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team, as is protocol. The deputy is on paid administrative leave pending the results of that investigation.
Weekly said Main Event was open and busy at the time of the shooting.
"It was packed, there were a lot of patrons still here when the shots rang out," he said. "Very dangerous situation. We do know we had multiple rounds that were fired inside the business."
Deputies believe there was some connection between the shooting inside and the armed man outside, but the nature of that connection is still under investigation.
The first deputy at the scene was already nearby and arrived in "less than a minute," Weekly said. "Very dangerous and chaotic scene but this could've been much worse."
Weekly is asking for any witnesses who've not been in touch with investigators to call the sheriff's office.
