Longmont Shooting

[jimmnn]

LONGMONT, Colo. -- Police found a man shot in the head following a car crash in Longmont Wednesday night.

Police were sent to 10th Avenue and Main Street at about 8 p.m. to investigate a traffic accident.

When police arrived, they found a man shot in the head, according to a published report in Thursday's Times-Call newspaper. The report said the man died later at the hospital.

The report indicated that police didn't know if the man was shot by someone else or shot himself.

Police said the female driver of a second pickup was taken to Longmont United Hospital with minor injuries. A male passenger in her truck was not injured.

The Ford F-250 that the dead man was found in had extensive damage as a result of a collision and police were investigating the circumstances, according to the newspaper account.

A police spokesman was not available to confirm the newspaper account.

 

[chris_a_rodgers]

Police: Man shot himself after crash

By Pierrette J. Shields
Longmont Times-Call

LONGMONT — Police believe a man who died of gunshot wound to the head on Wednesday night shot himself immediately after he crashed his truck into another truck on Main Street and 10th Avenue.

“We have every reason to believe the gunshot wound was self-inflicted,” Cmdr. Craig Earhart said this morning. But, he added, police are still “piecing the whole thing together.”

Earhart said police have a tentative identification on the man, but will wait for Boulder County Coroner Tom Faure to officially release his identity.

An autopsy was done on Thursday afternoon, and Earhart said the man appears to be from Longmont, but may be transient and living out of his vehicle or staying with friends.

He said investigators hope to speak with people who knew him to find out if he expressed any intention to kill himself. He did not have a documented history of suicide attempts.

Police initially went to 10th Avenue and Main Street at about 8 p.m. Wednesday to investigate a crash between two pickup trucks.

In one of the trucks, a gold Ford F-250, police found the 54-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. He was still alive. A .45-caliber revolver was near him in the truck.

According to police, a Dodge truck was driving north on Main Street when the Ford, traveling south on Main, crossed the center line and hit the Dodge.

The Ford skidded off the street and stopped in front of Ken’s Classic Muffler, just south of the intersection.

Earhart said no one who witnessed the accident saw anyone leave the man’s truck or approach it. Witnesses who ran to help him found the man covered in blood.

One witness told police she may have heard the gunshot after his truck came to rest. He said the accident-reconstruction investigation and autopsy indicated that he shot himself after the accident, not before.

The driver of the Dodge, Nicole Griffith, 31, suffered bumps and bruises, as did a passenger, Donald Montoya, 32. A second passenger, Donald Griffith, 33, wasn’t injured.

Reached at the home they share, a man who answered the phone said the three had decided against speaking publicly about the crash.

Earhart said the bullet that killed the Ford’s driver was fired from inside the cabin and stayed in the cabin.

Police also found a half-empty bottle of vodka and are investigating whether alcohol was involved in the incident, Earhart said.

The driver of the Ford had no significant criminal history, Earhart said, but he did have one DUI on his record. Police still haven’t determined where the man lived, he said.

Police investigators returned to the accident scene on Thursday morning to reconstruct the accident as part of the investigation.

Detectives and traffic officers worked on the investigation together.

Pierrette J. Shields can be reached at 303-684-5273 or pshields@times-call.com.