Two Colorado State Patrol troopers were shot Tuesday morning during an attempted traffic stop on U.S. Highway 24 near milepost 286, just west of Woodland Park in Teller County, according to authorities. The shooting happened around 7:15 a.m. near the intersection of Highway 24 and Piney Point Lane, and the gunman fled on foot into the surrounding terrain, triggering a Blue Alert and a shelter-in-place order for nearby residents.
According to the Denver Gazette, the exact mile marker places the shooting along a stretch of U.S. 24 that cuts through Ute Pass, one of the main east-west corridors linking Woodland Park and Divide to Colorado Springs and El Paso County. One trooper suffered serious injuries while the second sustained minor injuries, and both were taken to a hospital for treatment, per CBS Colorado. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation described the suspect as a white man with facial hair and brown or blonde shoulder-length hair, and warned that he is considered armed and dangerous.
Suspect Fled on Foot From a Blue Subaru
The Teller County Sheriff's Office said the suspect opened fire from a blue Subaru Impreza before abandoning the vehicle and running into surrounding terrain on foot, the same CBS Colorado report notes. The car reportedly had no front license plate and its rear plates were obscured by tinted covers, a modification that complicates automated plate reader detection during the search. CBI's alert instructed the public not to approach the vehicle or the suspect and to call 911 immediately if either is spotted, while media inquiries were directed to the requesting agency at 719-544-2424.
The sheriff's office issued a shelter-in-place order for residents of the Westwood Lakes subdivision and those living near Trout Creek Road and Piney Point Lane while law enforcement combed the area for the gunman, the same report states. Residents in the affected area were notified through Peak Alerts and told to lock their doors and stay away from windows as the search continued.
What Triggers a Colorado Blue Alert
Colorado's Blue Alert system, created under House Bill 11-1036 and codified at C.R.S. § 24-33.5-416.7, requires the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to serve as the central liaison for pushing public broadcast and mobile phone alerts whenever a peace officer is killed or severely injured and the suspect remains at large. The notifications go out through the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts, mirroring how Amber and Silver alerts function but targeting suspects who pose an imminent danger after attacking law enforcement. Colorado became the 13th state to adopt such a program, following Florida's pioneering framework, according to a report from CBS News.
The state's alert law has a federal counterpart. The Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu National Blue Alert Act of 2015 established a nationwide notification network within the U.S. Department of Justice to coordinate alerts across state lines when officers are severely attacked, per the DOJ's COPS Office. That federal act was named for two NYPD detectives ambushed and killed in their patrol car in December 2014.
Not the First Highway Ambush on Colorado Troopers
Tuesday's shooting echoes a September 2024 attack in which Colorado State Patrol Corporal Tye Simcox was shot in the arm while parked in his patrol car doing paperwork on U.S. 36 in Westminster. Simcox returned fire with his rifle and killed the gunman, according to CBS News reporting on that earlier case. The agency has also faced other recent incidents on Colorado roadways, including hazards highlighted in Hoodline's recent Greenwood Village crash coverage.
As of May 2025, the Colorado State Patrol commemorates 30 agency members killed in the line of duty by deploying seven specially wrapped memorial patrol cars during National Police Week each year, according to a Colorado State Patrol statement reported by CS Local News. Fallen officers are also honored annually at the Colorado Law Enforcement Memorial in Golden. Investigators have not released the suspect's identity, and the getaway route from the area near Westwood Lakes remains unclear as the search continues. The updated medical condition of both hospitalized troopers had not been released as of Tuesday afternoon.
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