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DENVER (KDVR) — A Colorado man was injured early Wednesday morning when a person shot through his front door after first knocking on it, according to the Aurora Police Department.
The shooting happened at around 1:30 a.m. at a home in the 16400 block of East 17th Place, police said, and they are now searching for the alleged shooter after they drove away in a blue SUV.
The victim heard someone loudly knocking on the front door, and when he went to the door, a single shot was fired through it and hit him in the leg, police said. The suspect then drove away in an older model blue SUV, possibly a Jeep, with one chrome rim and three black ones, which has not been located.
“The initial information we got from our victim was he heard some banging on his front door right around 1 to 1:30 in the morning. Pretty concerning for a homeowner, right?” said Matthew Longshore, Aurora Police Department public information officer. “Hearing these loud noises, hearing that loud knocking. So, when he went to look through the peephole, through the front door. It’s unclear if the people who were kicking heard that he was close to the door or if they just luckily picked the right time to shoot through the door, but they actually shot through the door, striking the victim in the upper leg.”
The victim was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, but police said he is expected to survive.
Investigators have not arrested anyone, and the circumstances leading up to the shooting are being investigated.
“We’re going to be reviewing surveillance in the area and that’s kind of how we got pictures of the jeep with the one chrome front wheel is through surveillance in the area,” said Longshore. “So, our detectives are going to go … talk to witnesses and obviously talk to the victim if they haven’t already to figure out if, did anything happened leading up to it. Explain the situation prior to the shooting. Kind of get a full picture of the incident itself so we can hopefully track down the people responsible.”
A witness who wanted to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation told affiliate KDVR reporter Alliyah Sims he heard one gunshot, looked outside his window and saw four people running to the getaway vehicle before they sped away from the scene.
Longshore told Sims that the agency is not sure if the victim was targeted or if it was a mistake and the suspects were looking for someone else. The agency is asking anyone who lives in the neighborhood from 1 to 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday to provide any surveillance footage they captured.
Anyone with information about the shooting can contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 913-720-7867.