A Southern Ute Police Department officer was involved in a shooting shortly after 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 5 after being confronted by a man wielding a baseball bat.

Three Southern Ute officers were following up on an assault that occurred earlier in the evening at a residence near Ignacio. As they approached the residence, 24-year-old Anthony Martinez ran at officers with a bat. He was repeatedly ordered to drop the bat and continued toward the officers even after an initial shot was fired.

Martinez was hit in the lower abdomen and taken to St. Anthony Hospital in Denver. Three other people at the residence were also arrested.

The La Plata County Sheriff’s Office and the Critical Incident Task Force, which includes representatives from the sheriff’s office, the Durango Police Department and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, are conducting an investigation into the shooting.

The Internal Affairs Section of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Law Enforcement will also monitor the investigation and review the conclusions.