Deputy, suspected car thief die in Colorado shootout

Investigators examine the vehicle involved in Tuesday’s fatal shootout inbetween three officers and a suspected car thief. Weld County sheriff’s Deputy Sam Brownlee and suspect Ruben Reyes died.

Ruben Reyes, suspected of stealing a car,died Tuesday after a shootout with police. Hewas on probation after agreeing last year toplead guilty to felony menacing. Also, he hadbeen charged with driving with a suspendedlicense on two separate occasions.

Sheila White talks on the phone after the confrontation she witnessed in her neighborhood Tuesday inbetween officers and a suspected car thief.

Deputy SamBrownleewas a five-yearveteran of theWeld CountySheriff’s Office.

Colorado State Patrol officers gather at the scene of Tuesday’s fatal shootout in the Cave Creek neighborhood in Evans.

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The investigation into Tuesday’s high-speed police pursue and fatal shootout will be exhaustive in the wake of the very first death in the line of duty for a Weld County sheriff’s deputy in seventy years, authorities said.

Deputy Sam Brownlee, 43, was killed, as was suspected car thief Ruben Reyes, 20, of Fort Morgan.

The deadly confrontation inbetween Reyes and three officers – Brownlee, another Weld County deputy and an Evans police officer – took place in an Evans neighborhood.

“We have twelve detectives working this today, and they’ll be working through the night,” Sgt. Joe Tymkowych, spokesman for the Greeley Police Department, said Tuesday. “We’re going to take this case from the beginning and investigate it all the way through.”

Greeley is in charge of the case because of the involvement of Weld County and Evans officers.

Brownlee died instantly. Reyes died about five hours later at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley.

Reyes was on probation after agreeing last year to plead guilty to felony menacing in Morgan County. Also, records showcase that he had been sentenced to ninety days in jail after originally facing onslaught causing serious bodily injury and other charges that were dismissed.

While free on bail, he was arrested in May two thousand nine and charged with driving with a suspended license. He was charged with the same offense in Fort Morgan last month. Also, Reyes had several traffic offenses on his record, including drunken driving.

Brownlee, of Greeley, was a five-year veteran of the Weld County Sheriff’s Office, the Greeley Tribune reported.

“He was one of the nicest, most respected guys I know,” Weld County Sheriff John Cooke told the newspaper. “A fine deputy, and this is such a tragic loss.”

The incident began in Fort Morgan at 9:45 a.m., when a woman reported that a man she knows had stolen her car.

A Morgan County deputy and a Wiggins police officer spotted the car a brief time later on U.S. Thirty four near Morgan County Road Four.

A Weld County deputy joined the pursue when it crossed the county line. The pursue wound through Greeley and ended in Evans.

“Stop plunges” put down by the Colorado State Patrol had punctured the tires of the car Reyes was driving, bringing the pursue to a close in the Cave Creek neighborhood, where two Weld County deputies and an Evans police officer ordered the suspect out of the car, Tymkowych said.

“There was a confrontation,” he said. “Shots were fired.”

He did not know how many shots were fired by either Reyes or the officers.

Christina Goss told the Tribune she heard a gunshot and spotted Brownlee fall.

Another officer then covered the injured colleague with his bod while others returned fire until the suspect was down.

Sheila White had been stringing up holiday lights on her home when she eyed a black car with a vapid tire race up her street with police and sheriff cruisers in pursuit.

She said officers blocked in the car that Reyes was driving and got out with weapons drawn, yelling at the suspect to get out.

White took her dog inwards her home. While inwards, she heard several gunshots.

When she stepped back outside, she witnessed officers doing CPR on the deputy now identified as Brownlee. She could not see the suspect.

White said that before she went back inwards her house, a gray pickup truck drove up and two women in their late 20s to early 30s leaped out screaming, “No! No! No!”

Police ushered the women back to the truck. White said one of them sat sobbing inwards the vehicle. “My heart is cracking for his family,” White said of the deputy.

Staff writers Howard Pankratz, Yesenia Robles and Monte Whaley contributed to this report.

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