{"id":26789,"date":"2024-07-05T05:03:06","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T05:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-teenager-arrested-after-gunshots-halt-fireworks-in-cortez\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:45:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:45:16","slug":"update-teenager-arrested-after-gunshots-halt-fireworks-in-cortez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-teenager-arrested-after-gunshots-halt-fireworks-in-cortez\/","title":{"rendered":"Update: Teenager arrested after gunshots halt fireworks in Cortez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The annual Fourth of July celebration ended abruptly Thursday night when a couple of police cars went past near the skatepark and then the firetrucks left the Recreation Center parking lot. People ran from the area after gunshots were reportedly fired into the air at the skatepark. (Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The Cortez Police Department has arrested a 17-year-old on suspicion of firing a gun Thursday night during the fireworks show at Parque de Vida.<\/p>\n

The suspect was being transported to the Grand Mesa Youth Services Center in Grand Junction, according to an email from Kelly Codner, public information officer.<\/p>\n

A handgun was recovered, and the investigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n

The reports of shots fired near the skatepark brought an abrupt end to the fireworks show after police and the Cortez Fire Protection District decided in a \u201cunified response\u201d to stop the show early, Codner said in an email Friday morning.<\/p>\n

According to a statement by the Cortez Police Department on Crimewatch.net<\/a>, a fight broke out in the skatepark on the south side of Parque de Vida about 9:35 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cMultiple shots were fired into the air,\u201d the alert said.<\/p>\n

The police statement, created at 10:47 p.m., said no injuries were reported because of the shots, and the suspect, believed to be a juvenile, fled on foot.<\/p>\n

\u201cOfficers are investigating,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWe do not believe that there is an active threat to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

A post on the police department\u2019s Facebook<\/a> page asked that anyone with information about the gunshots use the Crimewatch website<\/a> or mobile app because the Montezuma-Cortez dispatch was \u201cextremely busy\u201d with calls.<\/p>\n

Alx Lee, a reporter with the Tri-City Record<\/em> in Farmington, reported about 9:45 p.m. that she heard two gunshots on the south side of Parque de Vida, and people began running away from the area. Lee was in town with family for the fireworks show.<\/p>\n

The Tri-City Record,<\/em> like The Journal, <\/em>is a Ballantine Communications Inc. newspaper.<\/p>\n