One person was shot by police in the area of East 47th Avenue and York Street in Denver’s Elyria-Swansea neighborhood Thursday after allegedly threatening people with an airsoft gun, according to the Denver Police Department.

Officers responded to reports of someone with a handgun threatening people in the area of East 45th Avenue and Saint Paul Street at 2:30 p.m., Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said at a briefing Thursday.

Witnesses at the scene told officers the person left the area on foot going west, and police searched the area before finding a man who matched witnesses’ descriptions near East 47th Avenue and York Street at about 2:50 p.m.

Officers told the man to stop and show his hands, but he did not follow police commands and pulled what appeared to be a pistol from a bag he was carrying, Thomas said.

Officers began shooting the man until he fell to the ground and then rendered aid until an ambulance arrived. The man is in critical condition at Denver Health Medical Center and is expected to survive, Thomas said.

“During a preliminary search of the area, we did find what appeared to be a handgun is actually an airsoft pistol that looks exactly like a semiautomatic handgun that the individual was carrying and threatening individuals with,” Thomas said.

The man is being investigated for felony menacing, Thomas said.

The Denver Police Department’s homicide division will investigate the case, along with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and Colorado State Patrol. The investigation will be overseen by the Office of the Independent Monitor and findings turned over to the district attorney’s office for review, Thomas said.

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