By Katie Langford
The Denver Post
WESTMINSTER, Colo. — A Colorado State Patrol corporal was likely a “target of opportunity” when he was ambushed and shot while parked along U.S. 36 near Westminster earlier this month, agency officials said Monday.
State patrol leaders released body-worn camera footage of the moments before and after Cpl. Tye Simcox was shot while parked between two concrete barriers in the highway’s center median and doing paperwork on Sept. 7.
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Investigators still do not know why Victor Anthony De Santiago, 32, slowed down and began shooting at Simcox from his truck, agency chief Col. Matthew Packard said at a news conference.
“If pressed today, I would tell you that I believe, based on current information, that Cpl. Simcox was a target of opportunity,” Packard said. “I think the shooter saw a patrol car and that’s the one he decided to take shots at.”
Simcox was shot in the right forearm and quickly left his patrol vehicle, grabbed a rifle from the front seat and returned fire, fatally shooting De Santiago, the footage shows.
The corporal was taken to Denver Health by a responding trooper and is expected to make a full recovery.
“I am extremely blessed to be alive and am very thankful for everyone’s support and prayers,” Simcox said in a statement release by the state patrol Monday.
De Santiago, a Thornton resident with an extensive criminal history in Colorado and California, had previous gang ties, Packard said. None of those ties were to international gangs, he added.
Packard declined to name the gang De Santiago was linked to and added it was not clear whether he was part of a gang at the time of the shooting.
“The state patrol is very much invested in understanding why this occurred,” Packard said. “We need to make sure we understand if Cpl. Simcox has a specific threat against him or members of this organization.”
Available body-worn camera footage of the shooting is limited because Simcox’s camera fell to the ground during the incident and the front-facing dashboard camera in his vehicle was damaged seconds after the shooting started, Packard said.
The footage shows a bystander who stopped to help Simcox shortly after the shooting began and appeared to help him tighten a tourniquet on his arm.
The first officer on scene was a trooper who Simcox trained, Packard said, and the pair approached and handcuffed De Santiago, who lay motionless on the ground next to his truck.
An off-duty police officer also stopped at the scene and approached De Santiago with his gun drawn, the footage shows.
Westminster police arrived at the scene seconds after the trooper handcuffed De Santiago and as he was checking Simcox for other injuries, according to the footage.
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No Colorado State Patrol troopers provided medical aid to De Santiago after the shooting, but Westminster police did, Packard said.
De Santiago was pronounced dead at the scene.
“I think Tye acted heroically. I think he acted in accordance with his training and I for one…(am) certainly thankful for how it ended as far as his wellbeing,” Packard said.
Simcox regularly parked in the area to do paperwork because it was known to be a safe location, Packard said.
State patrol leaders are evaluating whether anything can be done to prevent something similar from happening in the future, but that won’t include pulling back and hiding at the office, he said.
“When people see a state patrol car, whether it’s in the center median of Highway 36 or an overpass in rural Colorado, they tend to drive better,” Packard said. “That’s really what our mission is, to encourage safer driving, and it’s the bulk of our work, so it’s important for us to be out there.”
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