Park Ranger, Driver Injured in Shooting Outside Rocky Mountain National Park
It's not currently clear what led to what police are describing as an exchange of gunfire outside the park.
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
The east entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park is closed after a driver and a park ranger were injured in a shooting just inside the park.
On Twitter, Rocky Mountain National Park officials said that the park’s Fall River entrance and the stretch of U.S. Highway 34 between the park entrance and Deer Junction were closed “due to a Law Enforcement Incident and Investigation.” The Colorado Department of Transportation has also closed U.S. 34 outside of Estes Park at mile marker 57.5.
Josh Lewis, a trooper with Colorado State Patrol, told Denver7 News that the shooting occurred around 10:20 a.m., after rangers stopped a car with two people in it that CSP had been pursuing and exchanged gunshots with one of them between the Fall River entrance and the visitors center. The ranger wounded one of the people in the car and suffered a gunshot wound in turn, though a ballistic vest protected the ranger from serious injury. Emergency services later transported both to the hospital. Law enforcement also took the uninjured passenger in the car into custody.
Law enforcement has not specified what the cause of the pursuit was or what happened leading up to the shooting. The FBI is reportedly taking over the investigation.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Correction, 12/8/21: The shooting occurred just inside the park’s Fall River entrance, not outside it as originally stated.