OTERO COUNTY, Colo. — A 7-year-old who had been reportedly abducted by a 26-year-old woman in Lakewood was found safe outside of Last Chance, according to the Lakewood Police Department.
An AMBER Alert was issued Monday shortly before 2 p.m. for the missing child. Around 3:45 p.m., police confirmed that the child — whose name has been removed from this story — was found safe and unharmed outside of Last Chance in Washington County on Colorado's eastern plains. Colorado State Patrol spotted the vehicle, located the suspect, and got the child to safety, CSP said.
The suspect, identified as Crystal Denmon, 26, was taken into custody at the scene without incident. It's not yet clear what charges she may face, CSP said. Denmon is not the boy's biological mother.
This incident started around 6:10 a.m. Monday, when Lakewood police responded to an incident, possibly involving domestic violence, that had happened along the 1700 block of Kendall Street in Lakewood, said Lindsey Witzel, spokesperson for the police department. When police arrived, they found a man with a gunshot wound.
The man, who was transported to a hospital, was later identified as the 7-year-old's father. As of 4:30 p.m., the boy's father "is doing well" at the hospital, Witzel said. Police said they believe Denmon and the gunshot victim know each other.
While investigating the shooting scene, Lakewood police learned that the man's son was missing from the apartment. They believed that Denmon had kidnapped him and fled from the scene. They currently consider Denmon a suspect in the shooting but that remains under investigation, Witzel said. In its alert, CBI said she should be considered armed and dangerous, as investigators did not find a weapon at the shooting scene.
"We were concerned because of the shooting that had happened prior to (the child's) abduction. We were concerned for safety of the public, other officers and (the child)," Witzel said.
Before police found them, Denmon and the boy were last known to have been in Cheraw in Otero County — which is about eight miles north of La Junta — around 12:50 p.m. in a white Ford Focus. The AMBER Alert was issued shortly afterward.
"You could sense the tension when we issued it, even just for our investigators, our officers, for so many of us who are parents — it was hard to see the fact that we had to issue this," Witzel said. "And the fact that that little boy was potentially very scared and in very real danger, and the worry of whether or not he was going to be harmed or whether or not we would find him and he would be OK."
Witzel said police are now working to reunite the boy with his family.
"We are very, very thankful that he was able to be located," she said.
She said she was in the room when the boy's family learned he had been found safe, and saw the relief wash over them.
"I can't even describe it, to see how wonderful it is to see the reaction, the look on their faces of how happy they were that he was found," she said.
Anybody with information on this case should contact the Lakewood Police Department at 303-980-7300.
According to Colorado law, AMBER Alerts define an abducted child as somebody:
- 17 years old or younger
- In immediate danger or serious bodily harm
In addition, authorities must have enough descriptive information about the child to issue an alert, and the activation must come from a request from local law enforcement or an AMBER designee from another state. Learn more here.
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