A man was out of jail on bond on three felony cases when he fired 80 rounds from an AR-15, striking three Pueblo officers Tuesday night, the city’s police chief said Wednesday during a news conference.
The officers were still in the hospital Wednesday afternoon undergoing operations for injuries sustained in the gunfight, Chief Chis Noeller said. They are in stable condition but “have a long road to recovery,” he said, without identifying the officers or describing their injuries.
Police identified the shooter as Billy Soto, 34. Soto was given medical aid on the scene but later died, officials said.
About 7 p.m. Tuesday, police began looking for Soto, who was wanted for attempted murder tied to a shooting at an apartment complex on the city’s south side last month, the chief said.
Sotto was a “self-admitted” MS-13 gang member and had 14 felony arrests on his record, most of which he pleaded down to misdemeanors, Noeller said.
“Our officers were ambushed and shot by a malicious person who should have been in jail, but wasn’t because of our soft-on-crime legislation and bonds,” he said.
Noeller said the officers responded “the only way they could,” which was by shooting at the suspect.
The shooting will be investigated by the 10th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
During Wednesday’s press conference, Noeller also called for new legislation to hold offenders more accountable for their crimes.
“I for one am sick of it. I am sick of my officers taking these risks and being held to this kind of crime with no recourse and our community should be sick of it,” he said. “The blood of my officers lay at the steps of the Capitol.”
In a news release, Pueblo police said Soto shot an officer shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday. When officers and sheriff’s deputies arrived on scene, Soto began to run while still firing at officers. Officers returned fire.
Officials released little other information on the shooting Wednesday, including how many times the officers were shot or how many rounds the officers fired.
The FBI’s southern Colorado task force, made up of state, federal and local law enforcement agencies, were attempting to find Soto, who had three warrants for failure to appear in court for pending court cases, according to a notice published last month.