GOLDEN, Colo. — Late Friday evening, a person of interest wanted in connection with a townhome fire in Golden turned himself in to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
The Golden Police Department said James Gambrell, Jr. turned himself in around 11 p.m. Friday.
He also turned in an AR-15 and a handgun.
Police interviewed him that evening, but details from that conversation were not available to the public.
Around 3:24 a.m. Friday, the Golden Police Department responded to a report of felony menacing in Building A of the Table Mountain Townhomes complex, located at 17250 W. Colfax Avenue in Golden. The Golden Fire Department arrived on scene just afterward. Authorities learned that a person from Unit 103 had reportedly made a hole in a neighbor's wall and stuck a gun through it, police said.
Officers knocked on the door of Unit 103 and several seconds later, saw an "orange glow" coming from the apartment, police said. Officers on the outside also saw the unit's curtains were beginning to melt. They backed away from the building before hearing a "boom" and seeing "visible smoke and flames," police said.
The building was evacuated. Nobody was injured.
Shortly afterward, police said they were searching for Gambrell as a person of interest. Gambrell has military experience and "may be highly paranoid," police said Friday morning.
A LookOut alert was sent to the public to report any sightings of Gambrell, and a follow-up alert was sent once he had turned himself in. Click here to sign up for LookOut alerts.
Multiple GoFundMe fundraisers have been verified. Click here, here and here to help victims who lost their homes.