AURORA, Colo. — A man who was shot and wounded in a shooting that began as a road rage incident on Interstate 225 has critical injuries but is expected to survive, according to a spokesperson for the Aurora Police Department(APD).
The incident was first reported around 12:30 p.m., according to Matthew Longshore, with APD.
He said two men were involved in a road rage incident on I-225 and both exited the highway and got onto southbound South Parker Road. That is where the man who was shot pulled over and placed a 911 call, Longshore said. He had critical injuries, but is expected to survive, Longshore said.
He said another person involved in the incident continued southbound on Parker Road and pulled over near Quincy Avenue, and also called 911.
Longshore said people are being interviewed but no arrests have been made. Detectives are trying to figure out what happened, who started it, and how it escalated to violence.
"Whoever started the traffic altercation doesn't really matter," said 9NEWS Legal Analyst Scott Robinson. "Once we get down to the question of use of deadly force of self-defense or not, what matters is, what happened once the individuals chose to get out of their vehicles and engage one another in any type of aggressive behavior."
Generally speaking, if anyone ever claims self-defense in a shooting situation, Robinson said this is what happens next.
"The No. 1 priority is to establish if that individual acted reasonably, in believing that he or someone with him was in imminent danger of receiving serious bodily injury or death," he said. "And even then, if it turns out [a shooter was] the initial aggressor, they can't use deadly force unless they withdraw from the encounter and communicate that fact to the other party."
Southbound South Parker Road was closed at I-225 while police investigated the shooting but reopened shortly before 3 p.m.
The road closure was near the northeast side of Cherry Creek State Park.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867 or visit metrodenvercrimestoppers.com. Tipsters can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward of up to $2,000.
Metro Denver Crime Stoppers works by assigning a code to people who anonymously submit a tip. Information is shared with law enforcement, and Crime Stoppers are notified at the conclusion of the investigation.
From there, an awards committee reviews the information provided and, if the information leads to an arrest, the tipster will be notified. Rewards can be collected using the code numbers received when the tip was originally submitted.
> More information about Metro Denver Crime Stoppers can be found here. .
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