ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — A woman died in a domestic violence shooting Thursday morning in Arapahoe County and a male suspect is in custody, according to the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office.
A 42-year-old woman died of a gunshot wound outside a home along the 5200 block of S. Geneva Way, said Ginger Delgado, spokesperson for the sheriff's office. This is just southwest of Cherry Creek Reservoir in the Hills West at Cherry Creek neighborhood.
Calls about the shooting came in around 8 a.m. Thursday and deputies responded to the scene, where they found the victim in the driveway.
The suspect, identified later in the day as 45-year-old David Samuel Lechner, drove away from the scene and crashed at E. Orchard Road and S. Havana Street, about one mile from the shooting scene. Witnesses tried to stop Lechner from driving off after the shooting but were unsuccessful, according to the sheriff's office.
Lechner was taken into custody and transported to the hospital for superficial injuries, the sheriff's office said in a statement.
After he was cleared by medical staff, he was booked into the Arapahoe County Detention Facility for first-degree murder, menacing - aggravated assault with a gun and domestic violence. Lechner is being held without bond.
Authorities are working to determine the victim and suspect's relationship, but Delgado said the woman had moved in just a few months ago.
Deputies are interviewing the many witnesses who overheard an argument and called police, and then saw the shooting, she said.
She said there are no previous domestic violence-related connected to that home.
Deputies, investigators and crime scene investigators are processing evidence at the scene.
Delgado said the neighborhood is beautiful and quiet, and many neighbors are shocked to learn what happened and see so many emergency vehicles on the roads.
But domestic violence can happen anywhere, she said.
"It knows no bounds... I think it's just a shock, really, to everybody in this neighborhood and even to our deputies," she said.
There is no threat to the public, Delgado said.
