Denver man shot after firing at propane tank
Aug 17, 2013, 3:17 AM
DENVER (AP) – Police shot a man suspected of killing one woman and wounding another Friday after he fired a gunshot at one of several makeshift explosive devices made from propane tanks that he placed in the middle of a street.
The man was shot in the chest by an officer responding to a report of a shooting in the Harvey Park neighborhood. A woman was later found dead in a nearby home, and a second woman was found wounded in another home, Police Chief Robert White said.
Police said Daniel Abeyta, 31, was being held for investigation of charges including murder. The identities of the women were not immediately released, and no motive was evident.
Police said Abeyta was in critical condition, while the surviving woman was in serious condition.
White said the man had two or three propane tanks with gunpowder on top and had placed them in the middle of the street. He said the man fired at one of them and it “activated,” but no one was injured.
Before he was shot, the man was seen walking with his weapons. Police alerted residents to stay inside and a high school was put on lockdown. Abeyta was shot within about a half hour of that warning.
Police didn’t immediately say whether Abeyta lived in the neighborhood, but Melissa Allen told The Denver Post (
http://bit.ly/1bDQbgb) that he has lived in the area at least since she moved in three years ago. She said he lived in a house with his wife and two children, who are in elementary school.
Allen said she and her children saw him walk down the street Friday.
“He seemed like a nice person,” she said. “He was always with his kids outside.”
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