Damnit.:(
Thoughts and prayers to you and your coworkers Pat (CO_Cop)
http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?O...7-c589c01ca7bf
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AURORA - The police officer who was shot and killed on Wednesday was a 24-year veteran of the force and had received the medal of honor from the department.
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Aurora police officer gunned down, suspect in custody
Watch the press conference by Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates on the death of Det. Michael Thomas. September 20, 2006.
Det. Michael D. Thomas was shot while he was in his personal car stopped at the stoplight at Peoria Street and Montview Boulevard at around noon.
Police say a bullet entered his left side and he was pronounced dead at just after 12:30 p.m. at the University of Colorado at Denver Hospital.
Thomas was working a training day and was heading from one training center to another when he was shot.
"We are in mourning," said Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates. "This is about as hard as it gets for those of us in policing."
Police arrested a suspect shortly after the shooting.
Oates says another police officer, two Department of Corrections officers and several citizens that were passing by helped apprehend the suspect.
Oates says after a struggle 27-year-old Brian Allen Washington, of Denver, was taken into custody and a handgun was recovered.
Washington has an extensive criminal history and Oates said he was wanted by the Denver Police Department on another shooting on September 18th.
Police say he shot at a woman in her car at 33rd Avenue and Pontiac Street.
Oates says there is no evidence it was a road rage incident.
Washington was booked on the charge of first degree murder. The Adams County District Attorney's office will make a decision about filing in the next 72 hours.
He is currently being held without bond and is scheduled to be in Adams County District Court Thursday afternoon.
Aurora Police ask that any witnesses to the shooting contact them at 303-739-6106.
Thomas worked in the K-9 and narcotics divisions with the Aurora Police Department before becoming a detective in 2005. He was given more than a dozen awards by the department and was given the department's medal of honor in 1992.
"He was beloved by the department," said Oates. "I had a friend of his tell me today that he was known in the department as among the hardest working detectives."
"Mike was a great guy and this is a huge loss," said Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer.
The police department planned to hold a private memorial for officers on Wednesday night.
Three other Aurora Police officers have been killed in the line of duty, all in the 1980s. Debra Corr was killed in 1981 while trying to arrest a drunk driver; Thomas Dietzman, Jr. died at the police firing range in 1985; Edward Hockom was killed while trying to arrest a robbery suspect in 1987.
