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Flags at Half-Staff After Sheriff's Deputy Killed, 4 Others Wounded in Denver 'Ambush'

CBN

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Four Douglas County, Colorado sheriff's deputies were wounded and one was killed during a shooting incident in suburban Denver Sunday.

Authorities say the deputies were responding to a disturbance in an apartment complex located in Highland Ranch, about 16 miles south of the Mile High City.

The deputies had left the scene just an hour earlier after a complaint about a "verbal disturbance" between two men. One of the men told the deputies the suspect, later identified as 37-year-old Matthew Riehl, was having a mental breakdown. 

When the deputies were called back due to a noise complaint, they were given a key to the suspect's apartment and permission to enter by another man. 

"The suspect was just making a ton of noise and annoying everyone around him," Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said.

Spurlock said deputies came under fire almost immediately and were shot "very, very quickly" after entering the apartment and trying to talk with the suspect, who was holed up inside a bedroom.

"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 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.

A SWAT team then entered the apartment and killed Riehl during a shootout. The sheriff's office said the suspect fired more than 100 rounds at the officers. 

Riehl had previously posted videos online railing against Spurlock and the local police. According to authorities, he had no criminal record.

Parrish, the officer killed in the shootout, was 29 years old.  He was married and was the father of two young children. 

"His wife told me today that he loved this job more than he had loved any job he ever had," the sheriff said.

Gov. John Hickenlooper has ordered all flags in the Rocky Mountain State ordered to half-staff until Tuesday evening in honor of Parrish. 

President Donald Trump also expressed sorrow about the shooting, writing on Twitter, "My deepest condolences to the victims of the terrible shooting in Douglas County @dcsheriff, and their families. We love our police and law enforcement - God Bless them all!"

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