Lakewood police fatally shoot man in lumberyard

Two Lakewood police officers fatally shot a man Tuesday after a confrontation at a lumberyard.

Police said the incident began about 1:15 p.m. when officers were dispatched to investigate reports of a suspicious person at Pinnacle Lumber & Plywood in the 3600 block of 108th Street Southwest.

Multiple callers then reported seeing a man running, apparently from police, before climbing a fence into the lumberyard, police said.

Police spokesman Chris Lawler said police had not been pursuing the man and that it wasn’t clear why callers thought he was running from officers or why the man went to the lumberyard.

Two officers who responded to the suspicious person reports, one 39 and the other 48, found the man hiding atop a 25-foot-tall stack of lumber.

“Officers contacted the subject and radioed that he was reaching into his pocket,” police reported in a news release. “Shortly after that transmission, officers radioed that shots were fired.”

Officers then used a ladder to climb to the top of the stack, where they found the man bleeding from gunshot wounds. They called for an ambulance, which took him to the hospital in critical condition, police said.

Lawler said about 8:15 p.m. that the man had died from his injuries.

The man was identified Wednesday as Daniel Isaac Covarrubias, 37.

Lawler said information about whether the man was armed would be released after investigators have interviewed the officers.

The two veteran officers were placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated, per procedure.

The 39-year-old has been an officer since 2001, and the 48-year-old since 1999. They’ve both worked at Lakewood since 2004.

This story was originally published April 21, 2015 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Lakewood police fatally shoot man in lumberyard."