A man early on Sunday fired more than 100 rounds at sheriff’s deputies in Colorado, killing one and injuring four others, before being fatally shot himself in what authorities called an ambush. Two civilians were also injured.
Deputies came under fire almost immediately and were shot “very, very quickly” after entering a suburban Denver apartment and trying to talk with the suspect, who was holed up inside a bedroom, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said.
“They all went down almost within seconds of each other, so it was more of an ambush-type of attack on our officers,” Spurlock said. “He knew we were coming and we obviously let him know that we were there.”
The Douglas County coroner identified the suspect as 37-year-old Matthew Riehl.
A YouTube user named Matthew Riehl on Dec. 13 posted a video saying he wanted to replace Spurlock and railing against the sheriff and other officers in profane, highly personal terms.
Riehl wears an Iraq combat veteran hat in the video.
A US National Guard spokeswoman told KUSA-TV that Riehl served briefly in Iraq.
The wounded deputies tried to pull the fallen officer, Zackari Parrish, out of the line of further gunfire, but were unable to because of their own injuries and only managed to “crawl to safety,” Spurlock said.
The incident began at about 5:15am at Copper Canyon Apartments, a landscaped apartment complex in Highland Ranch, 28km south of Denver.
Authorities had left the home barely an hour earlier in response to a complaint of a “verbal disturbance” involving two men, the sheriff’s office said.
One of the men told them the suspect “was acting bizarre and might be having a mental breakdown,” but the deputies found no evidence of a crime.
When deputies were called back, a man who had left came by to give them a key and granted permission to enter the home, leaving again before shots were fired.
“The suspect was just making a ton of noise and annoying everyone around him,” Spurlock said.
Four officers, including Parrish, were shot from a bedroom around 6am, forcing the retreat.
A SWAT team entered the apartment at about 7:30am in an exchange of gunfire that left the gunman dead and another officer injured.
The suspect was well-known to authorities in the Denver area, but had no criminal record, said Spurlock, who declined to name him until his identity was confirmed.
Riehl said in his YouTube video, called “Fire Sheriff Spurlock,” that he would run as a libertarian, ending with holiday greetings and a vow to “fire all these bums come early next year.”
Riehl is vague about his political beliefs and personal grievances, though his animosity clearly ran deep.
He flashes the business card of an officer who he says shows up at homes after sunset with an attractive woman and “will then ambush you from behind the door.”
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
RELEASE: The move follows Washington’s removal of Havana from its list of terrorism sponsors. Most of the inmates were arrested for taking part in anti-government protests Cuba has freed 127 prisoners, including opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island. Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors — part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power on Monday to US president-elect Donald Trump. “Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband, Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the
RSS