A 30-year-old Aurora man is facing attempted murder charges after police say he chased down an SUV driver and opened fire following a hit-and-run crash involving an e-moto in northwest Aurora. Aurora officers took Titus Patterson into custody at his home in the 1300 block of Dayton Street, accusing him of firing several rounds at the SUV driver near East 6th Avenue and Fulton Street after the crash left him with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
According to the Aurora Police Dept, the chain of events began at 6:02 p.m. on August 31 when officers responded to a hit-and-run crash report near Dayton Street and East 13th Avenue involving an e-moto and a gray SUV. Police say the SUV driver left the scene before officers arrived, while Patterson, who had been riding the e-moto, ran from the crash site. Investigators developed information that Patterson armed himself with a handgun and pursued the SUV, ultimately firing several rounds at the driver near East 6th Avenue and Fulton Street. The SUV driver was not struck by gunfire, police said, and continued west on East 6th Avenue before crashing near East Lowry Boulevard and Yosemite Street in Denver. Aurora patrol officers later found the gray SUV near East 7th Avenue and Alton Street in Denver and contacted the driver.
How Investigators Connected the Dots
Patterson was arrested by Aurora patrol officers and now faces charges of attempted second-degree murder and attempted first-degree assault. Under Colorado law, attempted second-degree murder is a Class 3 felony that can carry a mandatory prison sentence of 10 to 32 years and fines of up to $750,000 when prosecuted as a crime of violence involving a deadly weapon, according to Justia Law. The attempted first-degree assault charge, meanwhile, requires prosecutors to prove Patterson intended to cause serious bodily injury with a deadly weapon, and Colorado court precedent holds that the charge does not merge into lesser offenses like felony menacing.
The circumstances that touched off the initial crash near Dayton Street and East 13th Avenue remain under investigation, police said. It is not yet clear what led to the collision between the e-moto and the SUV before the confrontation escalated into gunfire.
Why a Gun Unit Took a Case With No Gunshot Wound
The fact that a specialized unit investigated a shooting where nobody was struck by a bullet reflects a policy shift the Aurora Police Department made earlier this year. On January 20, 2026, APD expanded the mandate of its Gun Violence Suppression Team to cover all nonfatal shooting incidents, including cases where shots are fired at occupied vehicles or buildings without causing physical injury, according to the City of Aurora. Before that change, the unit only took on shootings where victims suffered actual gunshot wounds.
The city reports that nonfatal shooting cases in Aurora fell 56% in 2025 compared to 2024, while the Gun Violence Suppression Team maintained a 70% clearance rate — well above the national average for these kinds of investigations. That caseload has shrunk sharply, dropping from 155 nonfatal shooting investigations in 2023 to just 46 in 2025, the city says. The unit has leaned on community cooperation before; in March, it solved a nonfatal drive-by shooting on East Colfax Avenue by pairing commercial surveillance footage from local businesses with public tips submitted through Crime Stoppers.
E-Moto Confusion and a Persistent Road Rage Problem
The e-moto involved in the crash adds another layer to a regulatory gray area that has been vexing metro Denver. Under Colorado Department of Transportation standards, electric two-wheelers that exceed 750 watts or 28 mph are legally classified as e-motos or motorcycles rather than standard e-bikes, meaning they require driver licensing, registration, and insurance and are barred from sidewalks and public bike paths. Operating a noncompliant e-bike or an unregistered e-moto on public pathways carries a Class B traffic infraction under those standards.
Road rage itself remains a stubborn problem across the state. A 2026 national consumer safety study from ConsumerAffairs ranked Colorado the fourth-worst state overall for road rage and first in the nation for careless driving or speeding violations per capita, which climbed 46.5% year over year; the same study links aggressive driving to 38% of the state's traffic fatalities. Colorado State Patrol reporting has similarly found that complaints about aggressive driving and road rage account for 54% of all motorist safety calls statewide, consistently outnumbering calls about drunk or impaired drivers, with aggressive driving complaints climbing to nearly 38,000 calls annually.
Investigation Continues, Reward Offered for Tips
Police describe the investigation as active and ongoing, and they are asking anyone with information — including video footage of the initial collision or the shooting — to come forward. Tips can be submitted anonymously to Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720.913.STOP (7867), and tipsters could be eligible for a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to a felony arrest, per Metro Denver Crime Stoppers, which operates across five Denver-area counties.
The case adds to a string of road-rage incidents Hoodline has tracked along I-225 this summer, including a July confrontation involving a scooter rider and a motorist. Citywide, though, the broader trend has been downward: mid-year 2026 data published by the Aurora Police Department shows overall reported crime continuing to decline through the first six months of the year, following annual drops in both 2024 and 2025. City officials have credited expanded real-time camera networks and dedicated suppression units like the one that arrested Patterson for part of that decline, even as individual incidents like this one show how quickly a routine crash can turn into gunfire on Aurora's streets.
