AURORA, Colo. -- A uniformed code enforcement officer shot multiple times during a routine inspection at an Aurora apartment complex died Thursday afternoon.

Rodney Morales, 40, was walking into the Clinton Apartments at Montview Boulevard and Clinton Street, at about 1:40 p.m., when he was gunned down, police said.

He was struck in the upper torso, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said.

"I thought it looked pretty bad. There was a lot of blood on his shirt ... He looked sick, real sick," said witness Kane French.

Morales's female partner was sitting in a white pickup truck outside when the shooting occurred in the 19-hundred block of Clinton Street, Aurora police spokesman Detective Bob Friel said. The city workers were investigating a routine zoning complaint and had no indication there would be any trouble inside the apartment, Friel said.

Morales was rushed to the University of Colorado Hospital in critical condition. He died one hour later.

"He was just somebody who was just working to make this city a better place. It's just not right that this happened," said Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer.

$10,000 Reward Offered For Information On Gunman

Police officers were at the scene within seconds of the shooting, but were still unable to find the gunman, Oates said.

For five hours, police shut down a large area stretching from Montview Boulevard to Colfax Avenue, and from Yosemite to Havana streets, searching for him.

"We searched that area again and again, some buildings three and four times. We were unsuccessful in identifying or finding the suspect," Oates said.

Late Thursday night, SWAT officers were still pursuing leads as officers checked bus stops along Colfax and Montview. Police spent more than a half-hour inspecting a garbage Dumpster just north of Colfax and Yosemite, although it's not clear what they found, if anything.

The gunman, deemed "armed and dangerous," was described as a 22-year-old black man about 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 155 pounds. He has distinctive hair; an Afro that is 1 to 2 inches above his skull, police said. Witnesses said he was wearing dark jeans, a black hooded sweatshirt, white and blue Nikes, and a gray polo shirt.

Police said at the time of the shooting, he had been wearing a gray hoodie with the words "South Pole" written in red letters.

The sweatshirt was recovered not far from the shooting location. Police released a picture of the sweatshirt, hoping someone would recognize it and perhaps name the person who may have worn it.

Police also offered a $10,000 reward seeking information that would lead to the gunman's arrest.

"This was a cold-blooded killing. We need the assistance of the community to find this killer. We're asking for all your help," Oates said at a Thursday night news conference.

Detective Gretchen Fronapfel is now leading the case. Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call 303-739-6013.

For hours, residents were told to avoid the area as dozens of SWAT officers armed with rifles and automatic weapons went door to door and K-9 officers fanned out trying to track down the assailant. He was last seen running south, police said.

Morales Was Just Doing His Job

The victim is a city of Aurora employee, and was wearing a uniform that does not resemble a police officer's blue uniform, so the victim should not have been mistaken for an officer, Friel said.

City enforcement officers are not armed.

The city of Aurora would not say who or what was the target of the city inspection. Code enforcement officers enforce city zoning and housing codes. They make sure housing rules are obeyed and properties are well maintained. Unkempt yards, overgrown weeds, cars parked on unpaved surfaces, and indoor furniture abandoned outdoors could prompt a visit from a code enforcement officer.

The City of Aurora Neighborhood Support Division is staffed with 19 code enforcement officers that are each assigned a designated area in the city, according to the city's Web site.

Morales had worked for the city for 2 1/2 years. Read more about what colleagues are saying about Morales.

"We're here to ask for the community's help to find the person who did this and to make sure that things like this never happen again," Tauer said. "We want to express our heartfelt condolences to the family, to Rodney's friends, to all the city employees who lost a great friend and coworker tonight."

Schools On Lockdown

Once the police perimeter was established, four Aurora schools were placed on lockdown: West Middle School, Kenton Elementary School, Crawford Elementary School and Boston K-8 School. School officials only released students when parents picked them up at the schools. Dismissal times for some schools and some bus routes throughout the district were delayed, said Aurora Public Schools spokeswoman Paula Hans.

By 6:30 p.m., APS officials were still trying to connect students at West and Boston middle schools with their parents. The schools, as policy, will not release kids to walk home in the dark so students had to be picked up by parents.

A Denver Public Schools spokesman said Bill Roberts School was also on lockdown. Parents of students who walk to Bill Roberts, which is a K-8 school, were called by school officials. Those students weren't released until parents went to the school to pick them up. Students who take the bus were released at their normal time, at 3:15 p.m.