By Tom McGhee
Denver Post
MONTROSE, Colo. — An exchange of gunfire left one police officer dead, two more wounded and a suspect, who barricaded himself in the garage, dead in an affluent Montrose neighborhood on Saturday.
The officers had come to the home at 16915 64.50 Road in response to a domestic dispute, according to authorities.
The dead officer is Sgt. David Kinterknecht, 41. Wounded were Rodney Ragsdale, 55, and Larry Witte, 23.
The police did not identify the suspect or indicate how the man died.
Property records show that the $632,320 home is owned by Dennis and Pamela Gurney.
Through a friend, Cindy Gay Dick, Pam Gurney declined an interview with The Denver Post.
A neighbor said that Gurney had been severely burned in the past. The couple was quiet and kept to themselves, the neighbor said.
Sheriff’s deputies and police went to the home around 8:30 p.m. and began talking to the person who reported the incident, according to a police statement.
A man, who had locked himself in the garage began shooting, hitting the three police officers, the statement said.
All three officers were taken to Montrose Memorial Hospital.
Kinterknecht joined the department in 1999 after serving on sheriff’s departments in both San Miguel and Montrose counties.
“He is a Montrose boy, he grew up in Montrose all his roots are here,” said Montrose police Chief Thomas Chinn.
Ragsdale’s daughter-in-law, Victoria Ragsdale, said he was shot three times in his left leg and once in the right leg.
Doctors operated on him and placed a rod in one leg and he is doing well, she said.
“He has been joking and laughing and that is a good sign,” Victoria Ragsdale said.
Ragsdale, is a 20-year veteran of police work. He previously served with the Northglenn Police Department and before that the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, Victoria Ragsdale said.
Ragsdale moved to Montrose in November. “He always wanted to live in a mountain town,” his daughter-in-law said.
Witte joined the department about three years ago after graduating from Western State College, where he was a track star, Chinn said. “He is a very athletic kid.”
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation along with the 7th Judicial Critical Incident Team is investigating the incident.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Copyright 2009 Denver Post