Cops' hunt lasted hour

Gunman revealed himself in hail of shots

Sarah Langbein, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Alarms rang and sprinklers rained down water.

Smoke from fires set by the shooter cut their vision.

As adrenaline-driven Denver police made their way deeper and deeper into the 1.3 million-square-foot Safeway warehouse Sunday, they came across terrified workers, cowering in hiding places in the endless rows of shelves and shrink-wrapped flats of grocery items.

For 68 minutes, officers threaded their way through the cavernous complex, looking for an elusive gunman who had shot five people.

At 4:24, they found him.

Or more accurately, he found them.

Police said Michael J. Ford, 22, opened fire on the officers - hitting one in the hip.

Officers returned fire, killing Ford with seven rounds. Then they turned their attention to the victims and the bloody mess left in his wake.

"To walk in there and face what (the officers) faced is, at best, confusing," Safeway spokesman Jeff Stroh said Monday. "They created order out of chaos."

Caller reported employee was shooting others

It started at 3:12 Sunday afternoon when a call for help came from the Safeway distribution center at 4600 East Stapleton Drive South. The caller reported that an employee was shooting up the building and taking down his co-workers.

As Sgt. Steve Gonzales and officers from District 2 neared the warehouse, a man who'd been shot in the hand dialed 911.

It was the first police knew that the shooter, armed with a long-barreled handgun, was still in the building.

Twelve minutes after the first call for help, Gonzales and his men entered the building. As they reached the produce cooler, the team found their first victim, who was able to walk out on his own. They evacuated more of the 152 warehouse workers, only to locate a second man who'd been shot in the head.

Paramedic Otis McKay hoisted the man over his shoulder and scrambled out of the building.

Outside, incident commander Lt. Pete Conner recalled the lessons he'd learned in training nearly four months ago. It was a similar situation, only on a smaller scale. He knew the mistakes made then and proceeded with care.

Another team of officers, headed by Robert Fitzgibbons, stormed the warehouse and continued the hunt. They swept the building, keeping it safe for others already inside.

Meanwhile, the last employee to be shot, Mauricio DeHaro, lay dead. The remaining two shooting victims holed up at the warehouse's "guard shack," where 30 to 40 co-workers cared for them.

Police think Ford began his rampage by shooting his co-workers, and then setting random fires. It was unclear Monday where he was during the hour that police looked for him in the warehouse.

In one instance, Ford lit several blazes around the break room, where employees had taken cover.

It was the last sighting of Ford until he ambushed police.

Two officers killed gunman

SWAT officers were the last to enter the building, moving into the dry goods area. That's where Ford came at them, shooting officer Derick Dominguez, 38, in the hip.

The bullets of SWAT members Ryan Grothe and James Sewald took Ford down, killing him.

"They heard Dominguez cry out and turned and saw the suspect," police Chief Gerry Whitman said. "(Ford) was unprovoked and shot officer Dominguez. We didn't have time to talk to (Ford)."

At 4:24 p.m., the gunfire had come to an end. Whitman said Ford fired 16 rounds, six of those directed at his officers. In return, SWAT shot off 17 rounds, hitting the gunman seven times.

Three employees remained hidden at the end of the ordeal and were the last to be evacuated, said Lt. Frank Conner, who heads up SWAT.

Cause bewilders family

About 12 hours later, at 4 a.m., Safeway reopened and many of the employees who ran from gunfire just a day earlier returned to work. They say it's the busiest time of the year because of the upcoming Fourth of July holiday.

At the same time, investigators and Ford's family remain bewildered about what set off the 22- year-old man, who'd been working at the warehouse since February 2005.

Reports that Ford was upset about being taunted and harassed at work about his Muslim beliefs were downplayed by police and Safeway Monday, although they continue to look into all possibilities.

"I think it's important to underscore that in all of our investigations . . . we can find no problems of any kind that were brought forward involving or generated by Mr. Ford," Stroh said. "None whatsoever."

Whitman said there was no clear motive. However, he added: "(Ford) acted alone. There was no indication of any kind of plot."

Mark Moran, 37; who was shot in the head, remains in critical condition. Luis Relford, 34, was shot in the wrist and is in fair condition; John Mendoza, 27, is in serious condition with a gunshot wound to the face; and Oscar Martinez, 27, was treated for his injury and released Sunday.

On Monday, Whitman and other top-ranking cops heralded the work of the patrol officers and SWAT.

"They saved not only their own lives and their fellow officers' lives but probably the lives of innocent people that were still inside," Frank Conner said.

Monday's developments

• Gunman is identified as Michael Julius Ford, 22.

• The Safeway Distribution Center employee killed by Ford is identified as Mauricio DeHaro, 32.

• Other victims of the shooting are identified: Mark Moran, 37, hospitalized in critical condition with a head wound; John Mendoza, 27, in serious condition with a face wound; Luis Relford, 34, in fair condition with a gunshot wound to his wrist; and Oscar Martinez, 27, who was treated and released Sunday.

• Police interview Ford's family to determine a motive for his rampage. Police Chief Gerry Whitman later says police don't know what triggered Ford.

• Police say Ford was armed with a long-barreled handgun and fired a total of 16 rounds.

• Whitman identifies the two SWAT officers who killed Ford as Ryan Grothe and James Sewald, who fired 17 rounds at Ford, hitting him seven times.

langbeins@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2536