Inside the Police Killing of the Aurora Church Shooter

The search for the man wanted for killing a woman and injuring two pastors at an Aurora church on February 4 ended in gunfire on February 9. Jose de Jesus Montoya Villa, 31, was killed by members of the Aurora Police Department following a series of robberies and attacks that created chaos across a significant swath of the city yesterday.

Afterward, Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson tweeted: “I am extremely relieved that my officers were not injured this evening. They stopped a dangerous criminal from further victimizing our community.”

The APD account of what went down, supplemented by an evening press conference, overflows with violent incidents.

At approximately 3:45 p.m. on February 9, officers were sent to 820 Dayton Street – a location that corresponds to a strip mall – on a report of a shooting. There, they learned that a man had brandished a gun at multiple individuals and squeezed off shots in a parking lot, with one of the bullets striking a 26-year-old man.

The suspect is then said to have stolen a vehicle at gunpoint, but he didn’t get far before inflicting more damage. According to the APD, he got into a hit-and-run accident near the intersection of East 13th Avenue and Dayton Street around 3:57 p.m.

Just thirteen minutes later, at 4:10 p.m., Aurora police dispatch began hearing from callers about a new offense: an armed robbery at Hoffman Heights Liquors, 728 Peoria Street. Witnesses there provided the cops with a description of a man and his vehicle that matched reports from the Dayton Street scene.

Another carjacking took place around 4:30 p.m. near the point where Interstate 225 meets South Parker Road, but the man fled before officers could intercept him. However, they spotted what they believed to be the latest stolen auto near South Parker Road and East Jamison Avenue at approximately 4:40 p.m. The driver stopped after the cops activated their emergency lights and siren. After that, the APD notes, “shots were fired,” and the man was killed.

Even before the Arapahoe County coroner could officially identify the person killed, police confirmed that he was Montoya Villa, who’d allegedly gunned down a 36-year-old woman and injured two male pastors, ages 40 and 42, at Iglesia Faro de Luz, a church affiliated with the Assemblies of God denomination at 538 Olathe Street, just after 8 p.m. on February 4. An estimated fifteen to twenty people were at the church when the attack took place.

The Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) for the 18th Judicial District is charged with investigating the shooting. So far, no information about who shot who has been released, and the woman killed at the church has yet to be publicly identified.

In addition to the Aurora Police Department, personnel from the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Parker Police Department and South Metro Fire Rescue all took part in the enforcement action, which abruptly ended a manhunt that had gone on for the better part of a week.

Here’s the Aurora Police Department press conference about the shooting.

Officer Involved Shooting News Conference on Parker Road/ Jamison Ave. https://t.co/35gp4FmaM5

— Aurora Police Dept (@AuroraPD) February 10, 2022