Colorado police shoot and kill robbery suspect near Denver airport

(AURORA, Colo.) — Aurora, Colorado police fatally shot a male robbery suspect they said threatened them with a gun following a vehicle chase that ended by Denver International Airport on Saturday, authorities said at a news conference.

Denver’s chief of police, Ron Thomas, said two male suspects robbed a 7-Eleven store in Aurora around 2 a.m. Saturday morning before fleeing the scene in a small black SUV.

Around 5:00 a.m. Aurora police saw and began to pursue the vehicle toward Denver’s airport, executing an immobilization technique that caused the SUV to crash, Thomas said.

“We understand that a police pursuit, high-speed pursuits are inherently dangerous,” Thomas told reporters on Saturday. “And so, we want to end those as quickly as we possibly can when it’s safe to do so. I think those officers believed that this remote location was a safe location in order to perform that maneuver.”

Thomas said the suspect driving the car took out a long gun and threatened officers, prompting three Aurora cops to shoot the suspect.

Denver paramedics arrived and began to administer aid, but the suspect was pronounced dead on the scene. The second suspect was arrested.

An Aurora police officer did suffer injuries during the crash, a police official told ABC News. Although, no other officers were injured in the shooting.

Aurora and Denver’s police are conducting a joint investigation into the incident.

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