The two suspects killed late Tuesday night in a shootout with sheriff’s deputies in suburban Denver were identified Thursday as a man and woman from Pueblo who were wanted on warrants, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies shot and killed David Strain, 31, and Clarissa Daws, 29, inside a stolen vehicle in the Lincoln light-rail station parking lot in Lone Tree, authorities said. The shooting happened after deputies patrolling the parking lot approached a vehicle with no license plate and the locks punched out, according to the sheriff’s department.
The sheriff’s department on Thursday released 1 minute of edited body camera footage gathered during more than 9 minutes of gunfire between Douglas County deputies and the suspects. In the video, deputies repeatedly demanded the car’s occupants roll down their windows, one deputy noting “they’re moving around a lot in there.” At one point, one of the occupants started the vehicle, which was blocked in by two police vehicles. One deputy responded that the suspects were “trying to push out.”
It is unclear from the edited footage who shot first. According to authorities, when deputies approached the vehicle, the suspects shot at them and six deputies returned fire. One deputy was taken to the hospital with minor injuries from glass and later released, the sheriff’s office said.
Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said Wednesday roughly 35 rounds were fired between the suspects and deputies over the course of three exchanges, and that all three times the suspects fired shots first at police.
Spurlock said both suspects had warrants out for their arrest for auto theft and theft, and one was wanted by Denver police for questioning related to a shooting within the past three months.
The agency did not release any further information Thursday on the investigation, which is being handled by the Aurora Police Department.