A large police presence descended on a Thornton neighborhood early Wednesday and surrounded a home after officers responded to a call of shots fired within the house.

Two officers were shot during the incident. The suspect was also shot and killed.

“Our community has been shocked by the events that occurred this morning,” Greg Reeves, the interim chief of police for the Thornton Police Department, said in a press conference Wednesday morning after the standoff ended.

The Thornton police responded to a report of shots fired in a home in the 16000 block of Columbine Street around 8 a.m., according to Reeves. They were alerted by a citizen who was walking their dog and saw light smoke and heard gunfire noises.

Police surrounded the home and attempted to contact people inside. At approximately 9 a.m., a man exited the home with a long rifle and began firing at the officers, Reeves said.

Two officers were hit and suffered non-life-threatening injuries, though it is unknown if they were hit directly with bullets or from shrapnel. They were taken to two separate nearby hospitals and were in stable condition.

Officers returned gunfire and were believed to have hit the man, according to Reeves. The SWAT team then arrived on the scene and used a drone to see inside of the house.

When SWAT confirmed there was a man inside of the home, the team entered and found the man deceased.

It’s unknown whether the man died from gunshot wounds by the officers or a self-inflicted wound. The identity of the man is not being released pending investigations and identification.

The man was the only person in the residence.

A neighbor told The Denver Gazette that they believe the man had a mental health crisis after his father passed away, but were unsure.

The area around East 160th Place and Columbine Street, within the Orchard Farms neighborhood, was closed off until around 10:30 a.m., when police cleared the scene. It’s northwest of E-470 and York Street.

“It’s just a little surreal,” Aaron Lundblade, a resident of the neighborhood since 2019, said while standing in a luscious green park in the center of newer, large homes. “[The neighborhood] is relaxed. There’s not a lot of craziness going on here. Every year we do our holidays right here in this park… I could definitely see how this could shake some people up.”

Lundblade recalled hearing a bunch of sirens nearby his home as he was getting ready for the day. He looked out the window and saw the collection of police vehicles and fire trucks. After heading over on his bike, he saw around five officers kneeling behind their vehicles with AR-15 rifles.

“You always see it on the news, and you always think that it will never happen here, especially in this neighborhood. Then it happens a block from your home. It was crazy,” Lundblade said.

The 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office’s Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) will now begin investigating the incident, Reeves said.

In an afternoon update, Reeves noted that one of the officers was released from the hospital after being struck with glass and shrapnel. The other experienced a serious injury after being hit with a bullet near the shoulder, but is expected to make a full recovery.

The officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave as the CIRT investigation continues, per department protocol.