Colorado Springs neighborhood honors cyclist who was shot, killed

People in a Colorado Springs neighborhood are honoring the life of a bicyclist who was shot and killed Saturday.

Naomi Bettis and other residents, said they didn’t know the cyclist, but that didn’t keep them from paying their respects.

“We put flowers together to show how bad we feel that the victim had to die like this,” she said.

Before the first shooting happened, Bettis saw a neighbor acting suspicious.

“I watched him for a while and seen that it wasn’t right. He looked right at me…I started walking away and I was like, ‘Please don’t shoot me,'” she said.

She said when the shooter spared her life, there was a moment she wishes never happened.

“This kid was coming around the corner on a bike. He lifted up his rifle and shot him. I heard three shots,” Bettis said.

Investigators said the biker was murdered on the 200 block of North Prospect Drive near downtown Colorado Springs, setting off a deadly chain of events. Two women were also shot, apparently by the same man, in the area of E. Platte Avenue and El Paso Street. The rampage ended on Platte and Wahsatch avenues, where officers shot and killed the shooter.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said it is in a challenging situation. Deputies were not available to go on camera but a public information officer said the crime scene covers 10 blocks. The officer also said even though deputies are helping Colorado Springs police, deputies have to remain unbiased while conducting their own investigation into the officer-involved shooting.

Bettis said she’s lucky to be alive.

“He had a chance and he chose not to shoot me,” she said.

Sheriff’s deputies are asking anyone on Platte and Wahsatch that received any damage to their homes or vehicles as a result of the shooting to call the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office at 719-390-5555.