Two arrested for attempted murder after bullets strike family’s apartment
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Colorado Springs police say two people are facing attempted murder charges after firing multiple rounds into a family’s apartment early Monday morning, with bullets narrowly missing the homeowner and striking a wall near where a young child was sleeping.
According to the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD), just before 1 a.m. on Feb. 23, officers were called to an apartment in the 300 block of University Drive, near the intersection of Airport Road and South Academy Boulevard, for a report of a shooting.
At the scene, officers learned that the apartment's residents, a young couple and their 5-year-old daughter, had been awakened by an unknown woman pounding on their door. The couple reported that the woman had tried to force her way into the apartment while making statements about wanting to find someone who did not live there. In response, the father forced the door closed before arming himself with a handgun.
The father reported to police that he had given a verbal warning that he was armed and moved to the corner of the living room, where he then heard gunshots coming from the front door of his apartment.
Police say multiple shots were fired into the apartment, narrowly striking the homeowner and hitting a wall opposite where the couple's child was sleeping. Arrest documents detail that three bullets were found near the 5-year-old child; at least one was wedged in the wall, only 5 feet away from where the child was sleeping. The father returned fire, but no one was hit, CSPD confirmed.
The father was able to provide police with a description of the woman and her vehicle, a gold Ford SUV, as well as a man who was standing nearby when the shots were fired.
The pair was arrested a six-minute drive away from the apartment. Police say they found a vehicle matching the description, and without the officer even turning on their lights, the car began to slow down and pulled over. Officers say they then turned on their emergency lights to detain the suspects, later identified as Crystal Burke and Tristan Price.
Arrest records obtained by KRDO13 detail the officer's search for weapons in the vehicle. Police say when they opened the glove compartment, they found a semi-automatic pistol. CSPD says it later found the weapon was reported stolen last year.
According to arrest records, the officer also found live rounds on the car floor, which had a matching head stamp to some of the shell casings found at the scene of the shooting.
Police also say they found 101 blue M30 pills, baggies of methamphetamine, cocaine and a glass pipe.
Both Crystal Burke, 33, and Tristan Price, 40, are being held in the El Paso County jail, facing three counts of attempted murder charges, attempted burglary, drug felony, unlawful distribution, manufacturing or sale of drugs and illegal discharge of a firearm.
Tristan Price has also been convicted of felony burglary in San Diego and child abuse in El Paso County. Price received an additional charge of possession of a weapon by a previous offender.
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