One man died early this morning from multiple gunshot wounds fired by Denver police after he pulled a “replica handgun” on the officers, according to police spokesman John White.

White said the incident began after Denver dispatchers received a call at 12:48 a.m. from a caller in the 3100 block of West Louisiana Avenue alerting them to a man with a gun in the area.

White said officers contacted the caller and received the descriptions of two men, one of whom the witness said was armed with a handgun.

Within minutes, the officers located the two individuals near West Alabama Place and South Hooker Street.

There, said White, the officers gave repeated commands to the men. One man obeyed the commands while the second man didn’t, said White.

At that point, the man who refused to obey pulled what appeared to be a handgun. Two officers fired multiple times, hitting the man repeatedly, said White.

The wounded man later died at Denver Health Medical Center, said White.

The handgun was recovered at the scene and was found to be a replica handgun, not a working weapon, said White.

White said that the man who pulled the replica handgun was reportedly involved in an assault just minutes before he was shot by officers. White said he did not know if the assault involved the caller who originally alerted police.

Larry Trujillo, a long-haul, over-the-road truck driver and Vietnam Army veteran who lives on West Alabama Place, said he had gotten up about 1 a.m. to open his bedroom windows and curtains to let fresh air into his house.

He saw two men walking eastbound on West Alabama directly in front of his house.

Trujillo said as two Denver squad cars pulled up behind the men and the officers got out, one of the men reached down to his waist and pulled out what appeared to be a handgun.

“It looked like a real gun,” said Trujillo. “I heard five shots and it was quick – boom, boom, boom, boom, boom! The gentleman went down.”

Trujillo said the officers acted appropriately.

“It was either the officers or the gentleman. It was a clean shooting. It was justified,” said Trujillo.

He said in the aftermath of the shooting, the second man sat on the grass just feet from where his companion had fallen, his head down.

Trujillo said in the seconds just before the shooting, he heard none of the people — either the officers or the two men — say anything.

Carl Faller, who lives at the intersection of South Hooker Street and West Alabama Place, said he was sound asleep when he heard five or six rapid shots, a pause, and then a final shot.

“I’ve never come out of my bed so fast after that gun went off,” said Faller, a retired postal worker who has lived in the neighborhood since 1982.

In the next few minutes, the area was flooded with police cars.

“I’ve never seen so many cop cars. There were at least 10,” he said. He said additional equipment arrived, including a large crime scene truck, which lit the area with flood lights.

Faller said that if somebody pulls a gun on an officer, the officer isn’t going to take the time to figure out if the gun is real or fake before defending himself.

Both Faller and his wife, Patricia, said the neighborhood has been quiet the past couple of years. Prior to that, there was some trouble at an apartment complex on West Louisiana Avenue immediately to their south, but those problems have disappeared, they said.

Faller added that the officers who patrol the area seem nice and he exchanges greetings with them.

“I have a lot of admiration for our police department,” added Patricia Faller.

Faller said that about 50 yards down West Alabama Place from where the man fell, there appeared to be a second disturbance, but he couldn’t see clearly what was going on.

White, the police spokesman, said the two officers, whose names are not being released, have been placed on paid administrative leave.

White said the second man who was cooperative prior to the shooting has remained cooperative. His name is not being released.

Police are attempting to identify the deceased man, said the police spokesman.

The Denver district attorney’s office will conduct an investigation into the shooting, said White.

Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com