DENVER (KDVR) — A suspect remains at large after a ranger was stabbed at a state park in Colorado.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said it was searching for a suspect after a seasonal Colorado Parks and Wildlife ranger was stabbed at Staunton State Park on Tuesday morning. The park is located about 40 miles outside of Denver.
A park ranger called emergency dispatch around 9:30 a.m. to report that he had an altercation with someone at Staunton State Park. Authorities reported losing contact with the ranger, but he was able to call again and say that he had been stabbed. He also provided a description for the suspect who ran into the woods after the stabbing.
Emergency responders made it to the location of the park ranger, who was taken to a nearby fire station before being airlifted to a local hospital. Officials are not sure how many times he was stabbed, but they did report that he was stabbed in the torso. He had surgery and was in stable condition as of Tuesday afternoon.
“These were serious injuries — he was attacked with a knife, and the suspect we are looking for is wanted for attempted murder, so this could not be more serious than it is,” Jacki Kelley, the public information officer for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, said Tuesday.
The suspect is described as a white man in his early 30s with brown hair and no facial hair. He is 6 feet tall, 200 pounds, and was wearing a grey shirt (with no printing on it) and blue jeans. The sheriff’s office said he is considered “dangerous.”
Dispatch had no response for an extended period after the initial contact with the ranger.
“We had radio silence for quite a while, which is difficult when you can’t get in touch with somebody who is actually calling for help,” said Jacki Kelley, the public information officer for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, during the press conference.
Kara Van Hoose, a spokesperson for CPW, said at the press conference that the ranger was a seasonal ranger, and was not wearing any form of vest for protection, as seasonal rangers are not armed like full-time rangers and officers.
The stabbing occurred on a trail near Staunton Rocks, Van Hoose said. The ranger was performing a typical patrol of the park.
Several agencies, including the Colorado State Patrol and a regional SWAT team, were assisting with land and air searches through Tuesday.
CPW closed that park on Tuesday and was evacuating all visitors inside the park. The park was reopened on Wednesday morning.
Law enforcement sent out a reverse 911 message to 8,600 homes nearby, and also sent an IPAWS alert, which contacts every phone within a certain parameter, even if they aren’t signed up for notifications with the agency.
At 4:50 p.m. on Tuesday, the shelter-in-place order for the area immediately around Staunton State Park was lifted, the sheriff’s office said in an update on X.
Two persons of interest were interviewed by authorities but were cleared of any suspected involvement. Investigators said they have reason to believe this was a targeted attack
“We’re not going to give up until we find somebody,” said Kelley.
The sheriff’s office is asking anyone with information about the incident to call 911.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
