Police have released the name of the suspect arrested in the shooting death of an Arvada, Colorado, officer.
Police arrested Sonny Thomas Almanza, 31, of Arvada, and he was charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of officer Dillon Vakoff during a large family disturbance, according to a press release from the Arvada Police Department.
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Almanza faces seven other charges, including two counts of criminal attempt to commit first-degree murder, one with intent and deliberation and the other with extreme indifference. Both are considered Class 2 felonies.
The other charges include two counts of child abuse (knowingly and no injury), two counts of crime of violence, and possession of a weapon by a previous offender.
— Arvada Police (@ArvadaPolice) September 12, 2022
Court records show Westminster police arrested Almanza in 2008 on several counts, according to the Denver Gazette. He pleaded guilty later that year to a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon resulting in serious bodily injury.
His original sentence of 15 years in the Department of Corrections was suspended; he instead received a six-year sentence in the Youthful Offender System.
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Vakoff was killed when he and two other officers were completing a well-being check on two minor children. When officers arrived on the scene, multiple people were in the street and were described as “belligerent and uncooperative.”
Gunfire was exchanged between Almanza and the officers. A woman and Vakoff, who was pronounced dead at the hospital, were hit. Almanza was also shot and was transported to a local hospital after being taken into custody.
Almanza is expected to survive and will be transported to Jefferson County jail upon release from the hospital.
