Suspect arrested in Walmart shooting that left three dead in Colorado

DENVER — Police arrested early Thursday a suspect in the Walmart shooting that left three dead after a 14-hour manhunt in the Denver metro area.

Scott Ostrem, 47, was taken into custody during the morning rush hour shortly after he drove a red 2017 Mitsubishi Mirage past an apartment in Adams County as it was being searched by a SWAT team. The arrest was captured on video by Fox31.

Thornton police spokesman Victor Avila said the officers “did a high-risk stop on the vehicle and were successfully able to take the suspect into custody without incident” at a traffic light about a half-mile from the apartment.

He said that the suspect had a “minimal criminal history” but declined to speculate on the motive in the Wednesday night shooting at the Walmart on 9901 Grant Street in Thornton, about 12 miles north of Denver.

Officer Avila told reporters earlier that Mr. Ostrem entered the Walmart and “very nonchalantly, with his hands in his pockets, raised a weapon and began shooting. Then he turns around and walks out of the store.”

The three people killed — two men and a woman — have not been identified, but they were not Walmart employees.

“As officers arrive, they observed three persons down at the store with gunshot wounds,” said Officer Avila.

He said the scene Wednesday night was “mass chaos” as shoppers scrambled to get out of supercenter shortly after the shooting began at about 6:10 p.m.

“We had hundreds of people self-evacuating from a large establishment, so we’ve got people leaving, we’ve got cars leaving, so we’ve got officers out there trying to cordon off the area to determine if that’s an actual suspect that’s leaving,” said Officer Avila.

The gunman used a weapon identified as a handgun. Walmart surveillance footage showed that there were others inside the store with guns, who may have been concealed-carry permit holders.

“We had to be able to discern what exactly was going on, whether that was a suspect or whether that was a citizen truly worried about what was going on and hearing the sound of gunshots,” said Officer Avila.

He said a “citizen tip” led them to the apartment on Samuel Drive.

Thornton Mayor Heidi Williams said she wanted to “extend my deepest sympathies and condolences to the victims’ families and their loved ones,” and thanked first responders and law enforcement.

“Obviously this is a huge tragedy for them, for the witnesses, for the employees at Walmart,” said Ms. Williams. “I will tell you that Walmart has been amazing, helping us with everything we needed to process this.”