Authorities believe a 32-year-old Thornton man saw a Colorado State Patrol trooper parked along a median as a “target of opportunity” before he slowed down and fired multiple rounds from a semi-automatic pistol at the trooper through his window, striking the trooper in his arm.
Dashcam footage released Monday showed the rear passenger window of a trooper’s truck shatter as Victor Anthony De Santiago fired shots at Cpl. Tye Simcox, who was parked along a median on U.S. 36 on Sept. 7.
Simcox then got out of his car with a rifle and returned fire, killing De Santiago.
“There’s no question in my mind that he was ambushed,” Col. Matthew Packard, chief of the Colorado State Patrol said during a news conference Monday. “And it’s really important for us to try to figure out why that happened.”
A team of investigators with the 17th Judicial District are still working to understand De Santiago’s exact motive. Two cameras — one on Simcox’s dashboard and another attached to his shirt — partially captured the shooting.
Simcox was shot while parked in an area where he frequently parked his car because he felt it was safe and protected between concrete barriers and a place where he could complete paperwork without someone walking up to his car unexpectedly, Packard said.
After bullets struck Simxcox’s rear passenger window and windshield and Simcox realized he was shot, he grabbed his rifle and started to fire at De Santiago, who parked about 50 yards away on the left shoulder, Packard said.
Gunfire continued for about a minute, Packard said. He did not know how many times De Santiago was struck or where he was struck before he died on the scene.
“I feel extremely blessed that I am alive and I’m very thankful for the support and prayers from everyone,” Simcox said in a statement Packard read during the news conference.
Simcox, a 16-year veteran of the state patrol, is expected to return to his role as field supervisor after making a full recovery, Packard said, adding that he felt the trooper acted within the agency’s protocols .
De Santiago had an “extensive criminal history” and ties to local gangs when he was younger, Packard said.
Part of internal review will be looking at how state patrol could protect troopers from similar scenarios in the future, he said.
“It’s a challenging situation to respond to because when people see a patrol car … people tend to drive better and that’s really what the mission of this organization is: to encourage safer driving. So that’s important for us to be out there.”
“This is a risky profession for a lot of different reasons, but the folks that come to this line of work do it on purpose,” Packard said. “They come because they understand the value of this profession and the nobility of it when it’s done the right way and we work really hard to do it the right way.”