Attempted Highway Robbery Leads to Fiery Crash in Colorado

Authorities originally blamed a road rage shooting
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 4, 2023 2:15 AM CDT

A fiery crash that left eight people injured outside Fort Collins, Colorado, last week may have been caused by an attempted highway robbery, police say. The Larimer County Sheriff's Office had initially said a road rage shooting might have preceded the crash, but amended their hypothesis after "additional evidence" came to light, Fox 31 reports. A Kia Sedona van with eight people in it was forced to stop when an SUV with multiple masked suspects inside pulled in front of it along US 287 Thursday afternoon, police say. The suspects opened fire on the van, and as the van driver tried to flee the scene, they lost control of the vehicle, causing it to crash and catch fire, police say.

By the time first responders arrived, the SUV with the suspects inside was gone, CBS News reports. Police are looking for them, and are asking anyone who witnessed the incident to come forward. No one inside the van was hit by gunfire, but the passengers, who are all Romanian, did receive non-life-threatening injuries in the crash. Strangely, an ambulance responding to the scene also caught fire, but that was an engine fire unrelated to the van fire, authorities say. No one was injured in that fire. (More Colorado stories.)

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