He's now pleaded guilty for an incident that found him firing off 350 shots without hitting any of the approximately 100 police officers in the vicinity.
According to the First Judicial District DA's office, the action fired up on April 4, 2011, when an Edgewater police officer heard gunshots in the vicinity of 20th and Sheridan. He was greeted at the scene by bullets zinging past his patrol car, which he soon abandoned in preference for preceding on foot. But before long, he and another cop who'd joined him were pinned down.
At that point, the pair called for backup, and plenty of it arrived. Before the lead stopped flying, the DA's office estimates that more than 100 law enforcers from a slew of agencies -- Lakewood, Wheat Ridge, Arvada and Denver police departments, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the Colorado State Patrol. Included were multiple SWAT teams, who combined to bring the incident to a conclusion shortly after 1 a.m., when Xcel cut power to the neighborhood at the request of the cops, who wanted to be slightly less well-lit targets.
The gunman was later identified as Solazzo, 26. Did he have a reason for going off the way he did? Turns out he did -- and it's a strange one.
Solazzo told investigators that earlier in the evening, he'd been hanging at a friend's house when he was attacked and knocked out by a man who wanted money for drugs. Next thing he knew, he was back at his house -- and wanting to defend himself, he quickly grabbed a 9mm pistol from his closet and started firing at random out his bedroom window. And he did so often: Police who inspected the bedroom later found 359 9mm shell casings.
Oh, one thing we forgot to mention: Solazzo had been drinking.
Presumably, he'll have fewer chances to get tanked up in the near future. He pleaded guilty this week to two counts of an oddly named class 4 felony: first degree assault -- extreme indifference. The result could net him between ten and 32 years behind bars. He'll find out his sentence on March 19.
Look below to see a larger version of Solazzo's mug shot.
Follow and like the Michael Roberts/Westword Facebook page.More from our Colorado Crimes archive: "Jarrett Berlin unarmed when SWAT team shot him, cohort Tara Salazar says he was massacred."