Deputies are searching for two suspects after one of them shot a man following a dispute over marijuana late Tuesday night in south Jefferson County, authorities say.
“This was a marijuana deal gone bad. I don’t know if they were haggling over price and it went south,” said Mark Techmeyer, spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department.
Investigators are searching for two men who were driving a car with Ohio license plates, one of whom had a lightning bolt shaved into his hair.
The illegal drug deal was being conducted inside a home on the 8000 block of West Fremont Avenue in south Jefferson County, Techmeyer said. Eight people were inside the home including the two suspects.
At 11:45 p.m., people who were in the home walked outside and the suspects climbed into a silver, four-door hatchback. The car was either a Ford Focus or a Subaru, Techmeyer said.
One of the suspects pulled out a gun and fire from the car, striking the victim, who was standing in the front lawn. The suspects then fled, Techmeyer said.
No suspect names have been released. It’s unclear whether the other people involved in the transaction knew the names of the suspects or if they were not fully cooperating, Techmeyer said. People in the house originally reported the shooting as a drive-by.
The victim, described as a man in his 20s, was in surgery early Wednesday morning and was later taken to an intensive care unit, Techmeyer said.
“We’re asking anyone who may have witnessed something to come forward and tell us what they know,” he said.
Although marijuana use is legal in Colorado, there have been numerous federal and local arrests of people growing pot illegally and exporting it to states where the drug remains illegal.
“We haven’t seen an influx of out-of-state people coming to Jefferson County to conduct drug deals,” Techmeyer said.
