A man accused of aiming a gun at passing cars in Denver, and later at city police officers, was shot Monday morning when he refused to lower his weapon, investigators said.

“It evolved so very quickly that the officers were unable to do any kind of de-escalation,” Denver police chief Ron Thomas said in a Monday morning news briefing . “They were under immediate threat.”

Denver officers responded at about 10:20 a.m. Monday to reports of a man aiming a weapon at cars near the intersection of West Alameda Avenue and South Lipan Street, Thomas said.

The intersection is on the edge of Denver’s Valverde and Athmar Park neighborhoods , near Interstate 25.

When they arrived, officers spotted a man between two nearby buildings who matched the suspect’s description, Thomas said. The man, who

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