Who Is Matthew Riehl? Colorado Shooting Gunman Was Iraq War Veteran

A gunman who allegedly killed a Douglas County deputy and injured four others after firing almost 100 rounds at an apartment complex in Colorado on Sunday was identified as a war veteran who served in Iraq. He was deployed to the region in 2009, reports said.

The shooter was identified as Matthew Riehl, 37, by Douglas County Coroner on the police department's official Twitter account.

The deputy who was shot in the ambush was identified as Zackari Parrish. The 29-year-old deputy was shot dead while responding to a verbal disturbance call early Sunday.

Among the other injured deputies were Mike Doyle, 28, Taylor Davis, 30, Jeffrey Pelle, 32, and Castle Rock Police officer Tom O'Donnell.

In a press conference Sunday afternoon, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said all the injured officers were in a stable condition.

"I do know that all of them were shot very, very quickly. They all went down almost within seconds of each other, so it was more of an ambush-type of attack on our officers,” Spurlock said adding, "He knew we were coming and we obviously let him know that we were there."

Speaking about the fallen deputy Parrish, Spurlock said: “His wife told me today that he loved this job more than he had loved any job he ever had.”

Detailing about the incident, Spurlock said the deputies were familiar with the place where the shooting took place. They had responded to various calls of noise complaints from the apartment in the past. However, they did not make any interaction with the suspect at the time.

But, this time when the deputies showed up at Riehl’s apartment after a noise complaint was registered against Riehl and his roommate, they were greeted by an armed Riehl who allegedly opened fire on them.

The wounded deputies tried to pull out Parrish from the scene, however, they were unable to do so due to their own injuries and somehow managed to “crawl to safety,” Spurlock said.

Expressing sorrow, President Donald Trump tweeted: My deepest condolences to the victims of the terrible shooting in Douglas County @dcsheriff and their families. We love our police and law enforcement - God Bless them all!"

Meanwhile, more details about the gunman surfaced including a video he posted on YouTube weeks before the Colorado shooting, Denver 7 reported.

In the clip, Riehl accused a Douglas County deputy of being a pimp while holding a business card of the deputy.

“The pimp will then ambush you from behind the door,” Riehl can be heard ranting in the video which has now been removed from the site.

Riehl, in the video, can also be heard attacking Spurlock saying: “You know who's going to flub big time in the next election? Spurlock. He's a clown.”