A weekend spent at home surrounded by his family and dogs sounded great to Jayden Smith. His mom picked him up from school at the University of Colorado Boulder and the two were headed eastbound on U.S. 36 when they witnessed gunfire between a driver and Colorado State Patrol (CSP) trooper.
“I mean it’s not something you really ever think you’re going to get into,” Smith explained. “I think on the news, we see this kind of thing occasionally, we get kind of desensitized, but then when it happens to you, it’s a big overload, you don’t know what to do.”
During the press conference on Saturday, CSP Col. Matthew Packard said CSP Cpl. Tye Simcox was doing paperwork in the center median of the highway when a passing driver fired multiple shots aiming at Simcox.
“As the vehicle continued eastbound, it pulled over onto the left shoulder, a male suspect exited from that Chevrolet pickup truck and began to engage our trooper again,” Packard said. “Our trooper exited his patrol car, and immediately began to return fire. He deployed his rifle that was issued to him and was able to, strike and ultimately kill the suspect that was attacking him.”