DENVER — Police have identified the suspect and injured officer in the June 13 shooting on E. Colfax Avenue.
During a press conference Monday, Commander Barbara Archer with the Denver Police Department said around 7:53 p.m. Wednesday, Carnell Nelson, 29, walked into the 7-Eleven at 551 E. Colfax Ave., took the cash register and left the store. The store clerk flagged down a passing police patrol car and two officers started to run after the suspect. The suspect then opened fire, Archer said.
One officer, identified as Travis Lloyd, returned fire and hit the suspect. Lloyd was hit by one of the suspect’s bullets in the thigh. The suspect “went down,” Archer said.
As the injured officer’s partner put a tourniquet around his leg, cover officers arrived on scene. Both Lloyd and his partner have been at the department for three years, Archer said. Lloyd has been put on administrative leave while the case is reviewed by the district attorney and while he recovers.
Police located two other people who had been injured by gunfire and both were taken to the hospital. A man had a graze wound and was treated and released, and a woman required surgery and ongoing hospitalization for a gunshot wound to her leg. Police believe she was hit by one of the suspect’s bullets, Archer said, and that the man’s injury may have come from a ricocheting bullet from one of the officer’s rounds.
Nelson died of his injuries at the hospital.
While the two responding officers were unfamiliar with Nelon, he did have a criminal record, Archer said.
Police recovered a gun that he had had in his possession at the scene, she said.
