Police investigating deadly Greeley crash as homicide; suspicious pickup truck sought

GREELEY, Colo. – Officers believe that a deadly single-vehicle accident that happened late Tuesday morning may actually be a road rage homicide, and they are investigating it as such.

Witnesses told police they saw an altercation between two pickups just after 11 a.m. Tuesday near 3029 29th Street.

"The information we are getting right now is that this may be some type of road rage incident," said Lt. Adam Turk, with the Greeley Police Department. "We don’t think there is any known association between the occupants of the two vehicles at this time."

Police said one man was found dead in a pickup that crashed into a retaining wall.

But several witnesses told officers they had heard an explosion before the victim’s truck crashed, and also said they had seen a small Chevrolet S-10 leaving the area at high speeds at the same time.

"The injuries on the male that was deceased on scene raised suspicions. They were not consistent with the traffic accident," said Turk.

Police would not confirm whether the victim had been shot, pending the autopsy report, which is expected to be performed and released Wednesday.

Though the police department is not identifying the man who died in the crash, an employee at Estes Valley Asphalt confirmed one of the company’s employees was the man killed.

Family friends gathered at the crash site, leaving behind a memorial for the man killed.

"He was a devoted father of two young children, and he didn't deserve this," said Yvonne Munoz, a family friend who came to pay her respects. "He means a lot to a lot of people."

Friends say the victim had been in the area working on a construction job.

"It doesn’t seem real. Like one minute he’s working and the next minute he’s gone," said Roy Varela, a good friend of the victim. "We were just with him on Easter. We had a BBQ at the park. Everything was fine. And then this — everything happened so fast." 

Across the street, an employee at the Harley Davidson dealership said surveillance video did not capture the entire incident, but showed someone getting out of what appeared to be the suspect's car and then getting back into it.

The police department asks anyone with more information about the incident to call them at 970-350-9600.