Three Denver Police Department officers mistakenly thought they were pursuing a jail escapee on Monday night when they fired shots into an SUV with two men inside.

The passenger in the car had been identified as Mauricio Venzor-Gonzalez, a man who previously has shot at police officers, said Commander Barb Archer, head of the department’s major crimes division. Venzor-Gonzalez had escaped custody from Denver Sheriff Department deputies during a medical transport Monday morning.

Venzor-Gonzalez was not in the car.

Instead, officers killed 27-year-old Steven Nguyen and wounded 23-year-old Rafael Landeros in the shooting, Archer said Thursday.

Even though police shot the wrong person, Archer declared the shooting was justified because the officers reasonably believed they were pursuing Venzor-Gonzalez. The people in the car did not follow officers’ orders and appeared to be searching for something as officers yelled for them to show their hands, she said.

“Officers knew that Venzor-Gonzalez had been arrested in November for attempting to kill a police officer,” Archer said. “They believed the actions being made inside the car were efforts to locate a weapon. So fearing for their safety the officers fired.”

The shooting, which happened near East 40th Avenue and Albion Street, remains under investigation by the Denver District Attorney, Denver police and Aurora Police Department. District Attorney Beth McCann ultimately decides whether a police shooting is justified under state law. The police department’s internal affairs bureau will investigate whether officers followed department policies in the pursuit and shooting and why the men in the car had been incorrectly identified.

Meanwhile, Venzor-Gonzalez remains on the lam. Police consider him to be dangerous, and a manhunt involving multiple law enforcement agencies is ongoing. Venzor-Gonzalez engaged in a shootout with a Denver police officer in November after a car chase.

At the time, Venzor-Gonzalez was wanted for abducting a woman and her toddler. During the shootout, Venzor-Gonzalez was struck multiple times and was at-large for two days before police found him inside an Aurora home with high-powered weapons.

“He’s a very dangerous individual,” Archer said. “He remains our top priority. The community isn’t safe with him out there.”

On Monday night, officers were conducting surveillance outside a home, and an SUV with two men inside repeatedly circled the block. Police received information that led them to believe Venzor-Gonzalez was in the passenger seat, but when they tried to stop the car, the driver fled, Archer said.

Officers were given permission to pursue the fleeing SUV. When the SUV stopped, officers ordered the occupants to show their hands. The occupants ignored them, Archer said. Officers fired their guns.

The car then rolled down an embankment, and officers said they could see the occupants continuing to look for something. They fired a second round of shots as the car was coming to a stop, Archer said.

Denver police officers are allowed to shoot at moving vehicles under very limited circumstances.

After the shooting, officers founded a loaded handgun in the car.

The officers, who have not been identified, have been placed on desk duty, Archer said. There is body camera footage of the shooting, but the police department declined to release it.

Landeros is being held at the Downtown Detention Center on arrest warrants out of Adams County, Archer said. Investigators have not determined whether he will be charged in connection with the incident Monday night, she said.



