Jason Pohl

jasonpohl@coloradoan.com

Fort Collins police continued a search late Friday night for a suspect they say shot at officers during a warrant attempt and then crashed into another vehicle while fleeing.

At 10 p.m., police continued to search the Campus West neighborhood near CSU, where two hours earlier they warned residents in an area bordered by Elizabeth Street, Prospect Road, Taft Hill Road and Shields Street to stay indoors, away from windows, and to lock their doors while the search was underway.

"We have a dangerous incident in progress in your area," a text alert warned.

Police identified the suspect as 40-year-old Jose Ornelas-Licano, who they said they were serving warrants to on drug and fraud charges. Ornelas-Licano was described as wearing a light-colored shirt and jeans.

Estes Park police arrested Ornelas-Licano Aug. 17, and he was charged with a drug felony for possession of a controlled substance along with two other less-serious drug offenses, Colorado court records show. A warrant for his arrest was issued Aug. 27 after he failed to appear in court.

He also plead guilty in 2013 to felony fraud and was placed on a two-year deferred sentence, which was set to expire in April, 2015, records show.

Additional details about either incident were not immediately available Friday.

When police tried to contact him during the warrant attempt, Ornelas-Licano fired a shot from his vehicle at a marked police unit and fled, police said. Nobody was struck in the shooting, and police said officers did not return fire.

Following the two-vehicle crash near Clearview Avenue and South Taft Hill Road that ensued as Ornelas-Licano fled, he was believed to be on foot near the Colorado State University campus and considered to be armed and dangerous.

First responders at the crash site, which is just south of the King Soopers in Fort Collins' Campus West neighborhood, reported transporting one person by ambulance from the scene.

Fort Collins police mobilized its SWAT team and armored vehicle for the search, and CSU issued a campus alert at 8:30 p.m. Larimer County Sheriff's Office also sent SWAT deputies to assist, and CSU Police Department aided in the search.

Numerous officers in marked vehicles fanned out across the area in the search, and by 9:25 p.m., the area around Avery Park was awash in police activity.

Anyone with information about the incident are encouraged to contact Detective Heather Moore at (970) 221- 6895 or Crime Stoppers of Larimer County at 970-221-6868.

Police manhunts are a rarity in Northern Colorado. The last manhunt involving a shooting occurred in March in Loveland, when Cody Powell shot Loveland officer Garret Osilka during a traffic stop.

Powell pleaded guilty to felony attempted first-degree murder as part of a plea agreement in September. He is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.

The last major police search in Fort Collins happened in July when George Gosden, a 64-year-old Army veteran suffering from dementia, went missing for a week. Gosden was found dead in a field near his home, where he died of exposure hours after walking away from his home.

Check Coloradoan.com for more of this developing story.