By Sarah Huntley, News Staff Writer, News Staff Writer Hector Gutierrez contributed to this report
January 20, 2001, Saturday
Copyright 2001 Denver Publishing Company
Denver Rocky Mountain News
January 20, 2001, Saturday
(LAKEWOOD, Col.) -- An intensive manhunt ended at a Lakewood duplex Friday when SWAT team officers uncovered the attic hideaway of a fugitive accused of wounding a Westminster officer in a gunfight.
Matthew Arroyo, 21, was bleeding from the torso when officers found him huddled in the rafters at 6280 W. Ohio Ave. He was treated for gunshot wounds at Centura St. Anthony Hospital Central and was booked into the Adams County Detention Facility.
Police believe Arroyo sustained his injuries during a shootout with Westminster police officer Tom Bunten, who tried to pull him over at about 3: 30 a.m. Friday. Bunten was struck once in the arm during the gunfight but was recovering at home Friday evening.
Bunten, 31, on the force for three years, told fellow officers the shooting occurred after he noticed a suspicious black Dodge Neon at West 92nd Avenue and Federal Boulevard. The officer flipped on his lights, but the driver kept going.
The patrol car tailed the Neon as it entered the Denver Cascade mobile home park, according to Westminster police spokesman Troy Cooper. The low- speed pursuit ended near the corner of West 96th Avenue and Zuni Street when the cruiser and the Neon collided, and the Neon crashed into a chain-link fence.
The driver, later identified as Arroyo, and a passenger crawled out the passenger-side door. The passenger dropped to the ground as Arroyo ran to the front of the car, crouched down and began shooting at Bunten, Cooper said.
As Bunten returned fire, Arroyo escaped on foot.
Officers from several jurisdictions set up a sprawling perimeter and began interviewing mobile home residents, but police said Arroyo had fled from the area after stealing a red Ford Probe.
Investigators, attempting to make contact with Arroyo’s friends and family, located the stolen vehicle parked outside the Lakewood home where he was later captured. Officers tracked footprints in the snow from the car to the backdoor. A semi-automatic handgun, possibly the weapon used to shoot the officer, was “in plain view” inside the car, Lakewood police Lt. Les Williams said.
Police immediately tried to make contact with the residents of the home but began setting up for a standoff when no one responded.
“He’s already shot a police officer,” Williams said as the situation escalated. “He’s not going to hesitate to do it again.”
As morning stretched into afternoon, a man, two women and a 16-year-old girl emerged, but the witnesses gave investigators conflicting accounts of whether Arroyo was inside the home.
SWAT team officers crept through a field behind the house and broke down the backdoor at about 2 p.m. They didn’t find anyone while searching the basement and first floor, but Williams said they grew suspicious after noticing some insulation residue that had fallen from the ceiling.
Two officers climbed into the attic about 45 minutes later and discovered Arroyo, unarmed, in a pool of blood. He was immediately loaded into an ambulance and taken to the emergency room, said Lakewood police spokeswoman Kathy Cable.
The news of Arroyo’s arrest brought relief to law enforcement officers who had joined the hunt from several jurisdictions.
“There was obviously a public safety issue having him remain at large,” Cooper said.
Even before the shooting, Arroyo was wanted on a drug-related felony warrant and in several misdemeanor cases, Cooper said. Records kept by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation show the Lakewood man has been arrested previously by at least eight different agencies. The charges ranged from theft by receiving to drugs and assault.
In 1998, Arroyo pleaded guilty in Arapahoe County to attempting to commit theft by receiving. He was ordered to serve three years of probation, along with drug and alcohol evaluations and treatment. A year later, however, he was accused of violating his probation and was ordered to serve 90 days in jail.
As a result of Friday’s shooting, Arroyo is expected to be charged with attempted first-degree homicide, first-degree assault, felony eluding and theft by receiving. His bail was set at $250,000.
It was unclear whether any other people will be charged in connection with the incident. The four people who came out of the Lakewood home were taken to headquarters for additional questioning. Authorities had not released their names on Friday.
The passenger of the Neon was released after cooperating with investigators. He was being treated as “a witness, not a suspect,” Cooper said.
Bunten was placed on paid administrative leave while investigators perform a routine inquiry into the shooting. That inquiry is expected to last several days.