LOVELAND, Colo. — A critical response incident team and coroner's office said the man who opened fire on a Loveland police officer from a rolled-over truck on Nov. 30 died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Shortly before midnight on Nov 30, an officer with the Loveland Police Department responded to a section of Highway 402 west of Boise Avenue after receiving reports of a car that had crashed and rolled over.
When the officer arrived at the scene, they saw that the vehicle had rolled over onto the driver's side and one man was inside, according to the Eighth Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT). The officer saw that the man was holding a pistol and demanded that the man drop it. The man did not and instead fired the weapon. The officer fired at him multiple times. The man was pronounced dead at the scen, according to CIRT.
As the officer fired the shots, a second Loveland police officer arrived at the scene.
The Larimer County Coroner’s Office identified the man as 40-year-old David Matthew Harper of Fort Collins. After an autopsy, the coroner's office came to the conclusion that the man had shot himself in the head and his death was ruled as a suicide.
The Loveland Police Department has not yet released the name of the involved officer.
CIRT is still investigating this shooting.
If you have information on this incident, call Colorado State University Police Department Det. Sean Fitzpatrick 970-517-3355.