A Denver police officer fired seven rounds at a man running towards the officer with a knife Saturday, the Denver Police Department said in a press conference Tuesday.
The man was identified as 30-year-old Heber Gonzalez. He remained in critical condition on Wedesday.
DPD said someone called 911 on Saturday at around 1:40 p.m. to report a man waving a large knife near Russell Square Park in Denver’s Cole neighborhood. An officer arrived at the scene in two minutes.
Police said Gonzalez ran towards the officer still holding the nearly 11-inch blade. After ignoring the officer’s commands to drop the knife, the officer fired seven rounds at Gonzalez who was 12-15 feet away from the officer.
Gonzalez was hit and transported to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. The officer was not injured.
One of the officer’s shots hit a parked car with a woman and a 12-year-old child inside. The bullet lodged into the steering column on the driver’s side of the vehicle. The woman and child were not hit.
Kevin Holwerda-Hommes, the husband and father, had been sitting in the driver’s seat minutes earlier. He told The Denver Post finding the bullet hole in his car door was “terrifying.”
“(We are) very distraught about the person who was shot,” Holwerda-Hommes said to The Post, “and we were not targeted; it was not an injustice in any way in that regard, but there are things that can happen any time this situation comes up.”
Gonzalez is being held on charges of first-degree assault of a peace officer, felony menacing and possession of a weapon by a previous offender.
The officer, who DPD said had not been in an officer-involved shooting before, is serving in a modified duty status and is not currently on patrol.
The officer’s identity has not been released.
The investigation of the shooting is ongoing. Anyone with information or video evidence is asked to contact DPD or Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. Tipsters can remain anonymous and are eligible for a reward of up to $2,000.
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