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Arrest affidavit details ambush of Adams County deputy who was shot

The only living suspect in a January shooting of an Adams County Sheriff’s Office deputy gave a conflicting report to investigators about what happened that morning.

But evidence shows one man distracted the deputy while the other ambushed him with gunfire.

Angel Toledo, 19, faces charges of assault and felony menacing over his involvement in the Jan. 16 shooting. Deputy Travis Noll was hospitalized in critical condition with several gunshot wounds.

Toledo told investigators he did not have any involvement with the initial police call or connection to his alleged accomplice, according to a probable cause affidavit for his arrest obtained by The Denver Gazette.

Body-worn and surveillance camera footage, as well as multiple eyewitness accounts, show otherwise, according to the affidavit.

During the incident, 19-year-old Isaac Biergans — Toledo’s alleged accomplice — fired several shots at Noll, who sustained gunshot wounds to his face, right shoulder, left hand and left thigh, according to the affidavit. Noll was hospitalized for several weeks and released last Tuesday, officials confirmed.

Biergans was killed during the shootout from a gunshot wound to the head, though the affidavit did not indicate who fired the fatal shot and Adams County officials did not immediately respond to questions about it.

A side profile of a man standing at a podium with windows behind him
FILE PHOTO: Adams County Sheriff Gene Claps stands at the podium and speaks to the media after an Adams County Sheriff’s Deputy was shot multiple times during what authorities are calling a “weapons disturbance” in the early hours of Jan. 16, 2026. (Michael Braithwaite / The Denver Gazette)

ACSO deputies first responded to the scene of what they called a weapons disturbance around 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 16 in the 7400 block of Broadway, an apartment complex called the Caraway Apartments in unincorporated Adams County.

The reporting party, a 60-year-old resident, said they had heard a verbal argument on the northeast side of one of the apartment buildings, according to the affidavit. Deputy Amanda Barela said that, when she arrived, she found a Black woman and a White man in that location.

Barela also noted that she saw two Hispanic men on the sidewalk in the area, one wearing a white T-shirt and another a black hoodie. When she announced herself as an officer, the two ran into the complex to the north and east. Other responding deputies could not find either while checking the area.

A 21-year-old resident told deputies that he and his 20-year-old girlfriend had gone outside to smoke a cigarette by the building between 2 and 2:30 a.m. that morning, according to the affidavit. During that time, they got into a verbal argument, causing neighbors to yell at them to be quiet.

Two-to-five minutes after the argument, the witness said, they were approached by two Hispanic men: one was wearing a white shirt, the other a black top and red bandana. The man in black pointed what he thought was a gun at them, but he couldn’t tell for certain as an illuminated flashlight attached to it obscured his vision.

The 21-year-old resident would later identify the man dressed in black as Biergans and the man in white as Toledo by picking both men out in two separate photo line-ups.

While that was taking place, Toledo ran to a white sedan parked near the main entrance, according to the affidavit. The 21-year-old resident assumed he was retrieving a gun of his own at that time. Toledo then came back holding a black handgun and flashing what he thought were gang signs.

The two men stood on both sides of the couple and exchanged some “heated words,” according to the affidavit. Toledo then punched the resident in the face. The woman tried to separate the two and deputies arrived, causing Toledo and Biergans to flee the area.

Maldonado identified the two as having some relation to an apartment on the 11th floor, which they were regular visitors at, but did not have card access to, according to the affidavit.

The original 911 caller told police she was looking out of her window as deputies were arriving and saw Toledo run to a parked car on the east side of the building and put an object underneath it, according to the affidavit. She kept watching until deputies checked it about 10 minutes later, during which they found and removed a gun from under the car’s front bumper.

Deputies set up a perimeter, but could not find the suspects until around 5 a.m., when Deputy Ruben Madera radioed to dispatch and told them that people matching the suspects were seen running northbound between two of the buildings, according to the affidavit. Madera then contacted Noll, who began to search the building.

Noll searched the building’s first-floor units, but couldn’t find them. He then began to walk up the stairs to check the second-story units. All the while, he was verbally announcing his presence.

FILE PHOTO: An Adams County Sheriff’s vehicle remains parked outside the Denver Health Emergency department after an officer-involved shooting on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Stephen Swofford, Denver Gazette)

“Police, anybody inside this building, hallway or stairs make yourself known,” Noll said, according to the affidavit.

The following events were then captured through a combination of body-worn and surveillance camera footage as well as interviews after the fact, the affidavit says:

As Noll walked about halfway up the stairs, he saw the man later identified as Toledo lying on the floor between two units.

As Noll addressed Toledo, another man — later identified as Biergans —rounded a corner to the right and immediately fired several shots at the deputy.

Noll was hit in “at least five different locations,” officials would later say.

After Noll was shot, Madera pulled him into a position of greater cover down the stairwell, according to the affidavit. Noll was then dragged into the parking lot area, where deputies applied a tourniquet to his upper left leg and took him to a hospital by ambulance.

“There’s a guy on the second floor, white shirt,” Noll told responders. “Somebody came out of … (the) top right corner of the stairs. They ambushed me.”

Deputies set up a cordon to prevent anyone from leaving the scene and, after multiple announcements, Toledo surrendered and was arrested.

Deputies eventually went back up to the second-story floor, where a K9 unit found Biergans lying in the hallway. The man was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead with an apparent gunshot wound to the head.

After he was advised of his constitutional rights, Toledo initially declined to speak to police without an attorney present, according to the affidavit. The suspect then changed his mind and agreed to speak without counsel as detectives were dropping off the arrest paperwork at his holding cell.

During the interview, Toledo said that he only arrived to the scene as police were showing up, and that he saw a man whom he did not know begin running and Toledo began to run alongside him, according to the affidavit. He also declined to discuss his involvement in any altercation as well as his being seen with a firearm.

Toledo then provided a conflicting account, saying he was in an apartment with nine to 10 people and “a girlfriend,” according to the documents. When asked who the girlfriend was, he could not provide her name.

Toledo’s next court date is scheduled for Thursday.


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