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Lakewood, Colorado, July 5, 2014, 10 p.m.

He knew the homeowner possessed firearms, not that it worried him. In Colorado, a police officer nervous to visit a home with a gun was in the wrong line of work.

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Officer Jonathan Key flicked off his patrol car’s headlights and slowed down as he neared the brick duplex on West Jewell Place. He planned to stop short of the home, four houses or so back, and walk the rest of the way. But before he had a chance to park, he heard a loud pop-pop-pop. Then all he could see were sparks and dust.

Did someone just shoot fireworks at my car? he wondered, his mind racing to make sense of the chaos.

Shots fired. I’ve been hit.

It was, after all, July 5, the day after Independence Day. Perhaps some still-drunk yahoo thought it would be fun to light up a police car with a leftover roman candle.

Shaking off his initial confusion, Key fell back on his training. Assess the situation. Check for injuries. That’s when he noticed the blood. It arced from his left arm at the elbow, strong and steady, a thick red parabola. This was supposed to be a routine call, a welfare check on some middle-age guy upset about his failing marriage. What the hell was happening?