The man suspected of shooting a Denver officer in the neck from the backseat of a police vehicle was handcuffed behind his back at the time of the shooting, officials said Thursday.
Investigators are still working to determine where the man, Daniel Cheeseman, hid the handgun and how it was missed when officers searched him Monday prior to placing him in the back of the vehicle, Denver police Cmdr. Matt Clark said.
“It is clear that a firearm was missed during the search that was conducted,” Clark said during a news briefing.
Police arrested Cheeseman after watching him get out of the driver’s seat of a truck that had been reported stolen, officials said. Police said they found a gun in a backpack Cheeseman was wearing, handcuffed him and drove him to the Downtown Detention Center.
Cheeseman sat in the back of the police SUV for more than an hour inside the jail’s sallyport, Clark said. He fired four rounds as an officer stood next to him with the door open, striking the officer once.
A corporal sitting in an SUV next to the one with the suspect heard the gunshots, got out of his SUV and fired nine rounds, striking Cheeseman multiple times, Clark said. The corporal thought Cheeseman was firing at him and investigators found two bullet defects in the SUV he was sitting in.
The officer who was shot suffered a “through-and-through” gunshot wound to the neck, Denver police Chief Ron Thomas said. The department declined to identify the officer Thursday.
“Had that bullet been just slightly to one direction or the other it could’ve been a much more significant injury,” Thomas said.
Clark said the incident was recorded by body-worn cameras as well as security cameras in the sallyport. The department did not make public those videos on Thursday but did release a still image from a surveillance video showing the moment the gunfire began.
Cheeseman remained in the hospital Thursday. Both Cheeseman and the officer are expected to survive their wounds, Clark said. Neither have been interviewed by investigators.
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