COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — A maintenance worker who was taken hostage during a five-hour-long standoff between Commerce City Police by a wanted man said the suspect lured him inside by saying he needed help in his home.
On Friday, police said a 29-year-old man wanted for a domestic violence assault that hospitalized a woman earlier in the day had barricaded himself inside a home. Officers ended up fatally shooting the suspect, but not before Manuel Rocha, the maintenance worker and next-door neighbor found himself caught in the middle of the situation.
Rocha has lived and worked for the complex with his wife and children for three years. On Friday afternoon, he was working outside when he saw a girl run out of the house next door pursued by a man chasing after her. Rocha said he now knows that was the suspect and the domestic violence victim, but he was unaware of the situation at the time.
Rocha said the suspect returned to the complex and approached him, asking for help, and noting there was blood on the suspect's chest. Though Rocha didn't recognize the man, he was willing to assist, assuming the blood was from an incident in the home, and followed him inside.
Once inside, Rocha's nightmare began. The suspect locked the door, ordered Rocha to sit down, and threatened to kill him, pulling out a two-foot-long machete.
"The guy told me, 'I don't care if you have a wife and kids, I don't care, I'm going to kill you,'" Rocha said. "I thought, probably, I’m going to die today."
At one point, the suspect ordered Rocha to check outside for police presence. Seizing the opportunity, Rocha left the screen door open and the main door unlocked, hoping for a chance to escape. Meanwhile, SWAT teams and Commerce City police began to surround the house.
After an agonizing hour and a half, Rocha saw his chance when the suspect's back was turned, and made a run for it. Rocha said the suspect ran after him, but two officers, guns drawn, were waiting outside the doorway.
"He saw the cops right there and went back inside and locked the door," said Rocha, who ran straight into the arms of his family. "My wife was crying, she hugged me, she was saying, 'Where were you, where were you.' And I said, 'I was with the crazy guy, he was trying to kill me.'"
Police said they issued a shelter-in-place order for a three-block radius around the neighborhood during the standoff as the suspect made additional threats, including killing police officers and igniting a bomb. Rocha escaped with only a minor slash on his arm from the machete but was left deeply shaken. However, he said he does consider himself lucky.
Rocha said authorities eventually deployed a robot into the suspect’s home, which released fumes that drove the suspect outside. SWAT team members were stationed on multiple rooftops and in a nearby tree. At approximately 7 p.m., the suspect was shot as he stepped outside the back door.
The police, who had been negotiating with the suspect via a phone they provided him, said he refused to comply with commands to surrender peacefully.
"It's always tragic when it ends this way," said Joanna Small, a spokesperson for Commerce City Police. "It's not what we want either, but we are absolutely going to do everything in our power to make sure the people who trust us with their safety are safe. And this was terrifying for this neighborhood," said
Police say they were tipped off by neighbors who had taken videos of the alleged domestic violence, and that this was something that may have been going on for days.
The suspect’s identity will be released by the Adams County Coroner’s Office.
The 17th Judicial District’s Critical Incident Response Team is investigating the shooting, and two officers have been placed on administrative leave..
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