An agitated man threatened to shoot a cashier at the Walgreens at 2000 E. Colfax, then walked around the store with a knife he had found as employees and customers fled, locking him inside.
After a standoff, police shot 56-year-old Leroy Ruiz with a rubber bullet early Sunday and arrested him.
According to a Denver Police Department report, Ruiz entered the store late Saturday and told the woman working at the front cash register, "I have a gun and I'll shoot you."
Ruiz, who was visibly "agitated" according to the report, then walked behind the counter at the photo station and rifled through drawers until he found a knife. He walked around the store wielding the knife and a crutch.
After employees and customers fled, locking Ruiz inside, police tried coaxing him out for well over an hour, according to witnesses at the scene. Eventually police used a "less than lethal" 40 millimeter round -- essentially a rubber bullet -- to subdue Ruiz.
Officers arrested Ruiz. He faces a felony charge of menacing with a weapon.
