I'm shot I'm shot I've been to many
scenes of Officer involved shootings in
my career where is he get my gun I have
never seen anything like this ever in
the afternoon on September 7th 2024
Corporal Tai simx from the Colorado
State Patrol pulled in between two
barriers on the median of us36 just
outside of Denver according to news
reports this was a known safe spot for
State Patrol to park Simcox pulled into
the spot to do paperwork however it
wouldn't take long for this uneventful
task to abruptly turn deadly with no
time to react Simcox was shot at by the
driver of this slow moving truck one
bullet hits the dash camera disabling it
a bullet also strikes Simcox in his
right forearm reports indicate that the
first shots fired came through the back
passenger side behind the officer's
point of view looking closely you can
see the bullet exit through the seat
towards the officer as the shooter
drives by having been effectively
ambushed Simcox was not able to turn his
body camera on right away acting quickly
Simcox calls for backup wields his
pistol and swings behind his F-150
patrol truck for
cover oh who was that was that
[Music]
Ty this officer Norman aragan quickly
responds to sim Cox's emergency
situation as it just so happens aragan
is a new recruit who was recently
trained under Simcox himself as aragan
rushes on scene Simcox rush to the back
of his F-150 Patrol vehicle and armed
himself with a handgun however using
visual indications the shooter appears
to have pulled over roughly 75 y down
the road and reports share he continued
to fire at the officer from that
distance using a handgun this prompted
simox to run back to the inside of his
vehicle to receive his rifle which would
be more accurate for shooting long
distances notably Simcox also flipped
his sirens and lights on this action
automatically triggered the rear Dash
and body cameras to begin recording the
loop recording feature utilized in
police cameras allows the camera to
recall moments before the officer starts
recording allowing us to witness the
shooting even after parts of the dash
camera had been
shot shot fired I think the suspect's
down on my way
he in the shortly after Sim Cox
retrieves his body camera and apparent
citizen who was driving by pulls over to
assist I'm shot I'm
shot come here come here come here I'm
my my wife you see what the happened or
what what can I help you with hey uh
tighten that lamp yeah here the civilian
helped Simcox apply a tourniquet to his
injured arm hold on hold stop stop stop
stop I messed up my name is
guy down she's down my wife has got a
gun she's son of
aush my my wife has got a gun she
she my other person get my gun hey no no
no don't get your gun not get your gun
right
now where is
he over
I got to St on the ground the suspect
lays on the ground excessively bleeding
and seemingly unconscious Sim Cox's
return fire hit its
Target hey put the gun away hey are you
a cough or what the handgun used by the
shooter is seen laying on the ground I
got it [ __ ] what's your problem I got
it are you are you done bleeding good
stand back okay I got him cover me the
officer's handcuff the suspect and then
check on Sim Cox's condition I got one
in
Cody what do you need check check okay
let me see check I got get my uniform
off I got him this officer removed Sim
Cox's uniform to check for any potential
additional injuries this step will also
help save time for when he is medically
treated piece
of make sure nobody else is hit guys let
me see okay let's get my let me let me
get your vest checking them out
check
the you're good you good you got no shot
there hey let's go
you're want take
hpal officer Aragon Sprints to his
Cruiser on the other side of the highway
to transport simx to the
hospital 27 I checked him out he's only
got one shot on the right arm okay shot
TR R23 is been head he's okay just
breathing arm
suspect
progress
the I got R23 on board I'm on route to
Denver Health I got you I got you move
on the
shoulder keep changing theone on your
Sirens yep full
blast move on their way to the hospital
officers on scene discover more than
just Sim Cox's body camera oh he's
leaking this is where he was leaking it
oh TI got hit
yeah I would leave that there for now
let's just leave the clear
it probably want gloves for that it's
Tai's blood I'm not super worri right
here I know I mean just so we're not
touching it probably don't miss anyone
have like evidence Flags where's
this the situation caused the highway to
be shut down for hours so police could
properly gather evidence and clear the
scene during that time a Press
Conference was held to discuss what
happened I'm Brian Mason I'm the
district attorney for Colorado's 17th
Judicial District anytime an officer and
in this case a trooper is involved in a
shooting the agency that Trooper belongs
to or that officer belongs to is
separated out from the investigation and
we have an independent investigation
conducted by our critical incident
response team that's the critical
incident response team for the 17th
Judicial District it is made up of law
enforcement throughout Adams and
Broomfield counties I've been to many
scenes involving officer involved
shootings and they are always tragic and
we always do an independent
investigation but typically before an
officer ever fires his gun there's some
kind of leadup there's some kind of
warning whether it is a traffic stop or
whether it is responding to an ongoing
crime this trooper had absolutely no
warning whatsoever he was ambushed there
would be no reason for this Trooper to
ever anticipate that one of those
Vehicles would slow down and unload his
gun into the Troopers vehicle the fact
that he wasn't killed to me is yes
miraculous and I just walked the scene
and saw the shell casings on a highway
that has been completely shut down again
an experience that is unlike any I've
ever had in my career the number of
shell casings suggests that this was a
shootout I think it's highly likely that
a bullet struck another vehicle and
again it is miraculous to me that nobody
else was hurt reports at a later date
indicate at least one bullet struck
another vehicle it is not currently
publicly known which gun the bullet came
from my name is Colonel Matthew Packard
I serve as the chief of the Colorado
State Patrol I will tell you very
directly that our member was targeted
today by a man that intended to kill him
and that is shocking and unacceptable
but our Colorado State Trooper responded
appropriately and swiftly and courageous
ly and he won today that's what good
does good and courageous people win over
evil cowardice and that's what happened
today on Highway 36 he looked at the
face of evil and responded appropriately
weeks after the incident chief of police
Colonel Matthew Packard held another
press conference to bring further
transparency to the situation I believe
based on current information that
Corporal Simcox was a target of
opportunity I think this shooter saw a
patrol car and that's the one he decided
to take shots at I am pleased to share
with you corpal shim Cox continues to
recover I could not be more proud of
that man we expect a full recovery as he
continues to come back for this um he
did send me a a statement that I'll read
I feel extremely blessed that I'm alive
and I'm very thankful for the support
and prayers from everyone you know when
you see Sops firing multiple times with
his rifle right there next to his
vehicle clearly toward the suspect I
mean you're in an area with moving
traffic and other people I would imagine
clearly he's not just firing at random
he had a very targeted approach but can
you speak to what that training is when
you are in a field of moving vehicles
but also my stand very is a key goal I
appreciate the question so when we when
we teach Firearms fact every time we're
at the range we go through the firearm
rules and one of those is to be sure of
your Target and what is beyond and as
you're as you're taking aim and and
firing your weapon uh that you're
accountable for every single round that
leaves that weapon and then to have a
backdrop uh that that you're comfortable
that it's safe to fire upon and and I I
can't speak specifically to how that
analysis went with Corporal simcock
following his training he would have
been aware of that what was bought
Beyond when people see a state patrol
car whether it's in the center meta
Highway 36 or on an overpass in rural
Colorado uh that people tend to drive
better and that's really what the
mission of this organization is is to
encourage safer driving can't just pull
back and and hide at the office we have
to be out there to be to provide the
service that we provide and I will tell
you this as I left the police department
to head back to our office that night
what I heard uh were state troopers
making traffic stops and working
uh and I tell you what that uh that's
incredible to me uh their Supervisor was
just ambushed and they all knew it at
the end of the day this this is a risky
profession for a lot of different
reasons uh but the folks that come to
this line of work do it uh in purp on
purpose so my concerned sure I am but
I'm also very confident um in the
training that happens here uh and so our
folks can be ready for this while there
are plenty of rumors circulating around
the shooter now deceased 32-year-old
Victor Anthony de Santiago there are not
many confirmed facts that surround His
motives behind the shooting Victor was
born in California and was a longtime
resident of colado according to news
reports he has an extensive criminal
history which includes over a dozen
charges the charges include assault
criminal mischief DUI domestic violence
menacing drug rated charges and others
the state patrol also mentioned he had a
criminal record that also extended to
when he was a juvenile in 2009 State
Patrol also mentioned he had prior gang
affiliations during that time but there
were no indications he continued to be
part of that gang officials refused to
name the prior gang he was a part of the
true motives behind Victor's actions may
never be fully understood what's going
on guys today we have a scary one out of
Colorado corpal Sim Cox is just sitting
in his police vehicle out of nowhere
he's ambushed by some random driver who
shoots at his police vehicle the first
few shots go through the back seat the
second shot goes into his arm and then
he shoots out his Dash can Corporal
Simcox gets out of his police vehicle
after calling for backup and returns
fire with his rifle taking the suspect
down permanently now thank goodness for
that civilian who helped him with his
tourniquet to save his life now the
great thing here is his trainee Trooper
aragan shows up and transport him to the
hospital something that you call scoop
and go now in Philadelphia they call
this a scoop and run that's when they
take the person who's been wounded and
get them right to the hospital cuz EMS
is nowhere near back in 1999 I'm a
rookie officer just getting out a roll
call it's a Sunday morning and I'm
thinking not much much can happen my
first call is a report of gunshots as I
roll up I'm thinking this cannot be
founded but sure enough it was I got two
guys on the highway and you can tell one
of them is already gone he's already
bled out the second one is still
breathing and talking but there's a lot
of blood on the ground so we scoop him
up Place him in a police vehicle and we
take him to the nearest trauma center
now in Philadelphia 2/3 of these trauma
victims arrive at these Trauma Centers
by way of police vehicle and it does
help to save lives so I'm hoping that
other cities adopt this method now
corpal simx was very fortunate that they
were able to get him to a hospital so
that he could begin to recover and I had
one last question if you truly want to
be a law enforcement officer ask
yourself this could you respond the way
he did if the answer is no and there's a
lot of other professions you can look
into I'm just being honest remember to
be safe and I'll see you guys in the
next one