Suspect arrested after Highlands Ranch carjacking, deputy injured

A Douglas County man faces serious felony charges after a carjacking at a South Broadway car wash led to a high-speed pursuit through Highlands Ranch and a violent confrontation that left a sheriff’s deputy bloodied and bruised.

Daniel Reynaldo Tolentino, 43, was arrested and is charged with attempted first-degree murder of a peace officer, aggravated robbery and felony menacing following the Monday night incident. Authorities say the sequence began just before 8:30 p.m. when a caller at a car wash near South Broadway and Panama Drive told deputies he was approached by Tolentino, who displayed a gun and took the victim’s vehicle; the victim was not injured.

Deputies located the stolen vehicle about 10 minutes later using a Flock camera and initiated a pursuit into Highlands Ranch. During the chase, deputies say Tolentino fired at law enforcement through the windshield of the stolen car; one officer returned fire. The chase ended in a Littleton mobile home park near County Line Road and Santa Fe Drive after officers used their vehicles to pin the stolen car.

Sheriff Darren Weekly praised the deputies’ response and stressed the danger they faced. “It is a miracle that our deputies were not killed. I am proud of both deputies who faced extreme danger,” Weekly said. “Despite being shot at and rammed by the suspect’s vehicle, our injured deputy stayed in the fight and helped arrest the suspect.”

One deputy suffered an injury consistent with a bullet grazing and was hospitalized after the chase; the deputy has since been released and is expected to make a full recovery, according to the sheriff’s office. Law enforcement also detained a passenger from the stolen vehicle on outstanding warrants unrelated to the carjacking, officials said.

The use of Flock camera footage to locate the vehicle underscores the growing role of private surveillance and real-time analytics in local policing. For Douglas County residents, the incident raises questions about public safety in busy corridors such as South Broadway and the residential communities that border Highlands Ranch and Littleton.

Investigators continue to process the scene and to prepare charges for prosecution. The arrest removes an immediate threat from neighborhood streets, but the episode will likely prompt additional patrols and community outreach in areas adjacent to the mobile home park and along transit routes used during the chase.

For now, neighbors can take reassurance from the deputy’s recovery and from the suspect’s arrest, while remaining alert and reporting suspicious behavior to local law enforcement as authorities pursue the case through the courts.