A child custody exchange turned fatal after a man shot the father of the child during a fight in Colorado on Sunday.
The Elbert County Sheriff’s Office said officers were called to a gas station in unincorporated Elbert County, southeast of Denver, around 3 p.m. on Sunday after reports that two men were fighting and one had pulled out a gun and shot the other in the chest.
A 36-year-old father from Parker, Colorado had gone to the gas station to conduct a custody exchange of his 4-year-old daughter with his ex-girlfriend, the sheriff’s office said. The father’s identity has not been released.
Authorities said the father was fatally shot by his ex-girlfriend’s fiancé, identified as 26-year-old Jeffrey Church, after the two men were involved in a fight. Church was arrested on first-degree murder charges and is being held at the detention facility at the sheriff’s office.
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According to a press release, the first sheriff’s deputy to arrive on the scene held Church until additional deputies arrived. He then began life-saving measures for the father. Elizabeth Fire Rescue personnel took over attempts to save the man’s life before he was transported to AdventHealth Parker and pronounced dead.
