Man charged by Jefferson County DA following chase by Denver police in Clement Park
The Jefferson County District Attorney charged one man in connection with a series of suspected crimes between April 9 and 10 whose apprehension involved a chase by Denver Police and ended with officers shooting him.
Matthew Lowderback, 34, faces 12 counts filed by prosecutors in District Attorney Alexis King’s office on April 27: Attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, two counts of robbery, first-degree motor vehicle theft, vehicular eluding, three counts of menacing, possession of a weapon by a previous offender, and two crime-of-violence sentence enhancers.
Lakewood police officers went to Pierson Street around 10 p.m. on April 9 in response to a shooting, according to a news release from the district attorney’s office. Witnesses reported seeing a woman with a gunshot wound to her face after an argument between her and a man. The man said he would drive her to the hospital.
A car matching the description the pair drove fled when Lakewood officers tried to stop it at West Colfax Avenue and Oak Street and ran a red light, driving over 110 miles per hour, according to police. Officers did not chase the car because of danger to the public, according to a news release.
The woman was found a short time later by an ambulance bay at a hospital. Paramedics took her to Denver Health, where she received treatment for a gunshot wound to her chin. The man accused of shooting her and then stealing the car after leaving her at the hospital — she owned the car, according to registration records — was identified as Lowderback.
He also was wanted for an assault by strangulation in Weld County, according to the release.
The next day, on April 10, the Denver Police Department received a report of a disturbance at a home involving Lowderback, reportedly armed, and learned he had an open warrant in Weld County and was the person of interest in the previous day’s shooting in Lakewood.
Denver police followed the car, which reportedly had Lowderback in the passenger seat and stopped it at South Lowell Boulevard and West Bowles Avenue. Lowderback got out of the car and ran down Bowles and into Clement Park, according to the release.
According to police, officers fired less-lethal rounds at Lowderback, but he continued to run. Police then shot several rounds from their guns at Lowderback when he allegedly pointed his handgun at them during the chase, according to the release. Officers arrested him, and Lowderback received treatment at Littleton Hospital.
No officers were injured.
He left the hospital on April 20 and was booked into the Jefferson County jail. A judge set a $1 million cash-only bond.
According to a 2022 news release from the town of Mead, Lowderback reportedly led police on a chase on Interstate 25 on May 22 after he allegedly assaulted a victim and stole their car, and returned to the Mead area the next day. Police officers pursued Lowderback for more than an hour late at night on May 23, but he eventually stopped and police arrested him shortly after midnight.
He faces charges in connection with the incident of second-degree assault, motor vehicle theft, vehicular eluding, theft, reckless driving, and obstruction of a telephone, according to court records.
