Antonio Norwood, a 35-year-old Black male, was fatally shot late in the morning of November 8, 2016, near 142 Del Mar Circle in Aurora. Officers responding to reports of a person with a weapon found Norwood gravely wounded; he was rushed to the hospital and did not survive. Witnesses described a fleeing black Chevrolet Monte Carlo and provided a license plate number that quickly led investigators to a Denver address in the Montbello neighborhood, tying the two scenes together within the span of
about an hour. Norwood’s identity and age were released by the coroner the following day.
Detectives tracked the Monte Carlo to East 46th Avenue, where officers from Aurora and Denver converged as a man later identified as 23-year-old Juan Ramos came outside carrying an infant in a car seat. As officers moved in, Ramos drew a handgun and opened fire, striking an Aurora officer in the face; officers returned fire and killed Ramos at the scene. A subsequent review by the Denver District Attorney determined that the officers were justified, and case records describe how Norwood’s girlfriend identified Ramos—her ex-boyfriend—as the shooter in the Aurora attack earlier that morning, an account corroborated by witness statements and the vehicle information.
No arrests were made in Norwood’s killing because the identified suspect died during the confrontation with police. Community memorial pages and local coverage have since noted that the homicide and the officer-involved shooting were part of the same sequence of events, with the suspected killer dying before the case could proceed to prosecution.
