Arvada customer Johnny Hurley shot cop killer Ronald Troyke dead before dying: ‘I did see him shoot the gunman’

A Colorado customer shot a gunman dead in a plaza before dying at the scene, police and an eyewitness said.

The customer was identified as Johnny Hurley, 40, of Arvada, Colorado.

The gunman was later identified by authorities as 59-year-old Ronald Troyke, police said.

Troyke had already ambushed and killed Arvada Police Officer Gordon Beesley, according to investigators.

The shooter had also left behind a note threatening to harm more law enforcement, police said.

Surplus store worker Bill Troyanos was working his shift at the Army Navy Surplus Store in Olde Town Arvada when the attack began.

He heard the shots ring out outside as pop, pop, pop, Troyanos said. He looked outside the store and saw a gunman standing in the plaza.

Troyanos then watched a customer he had never met draw a pistol off his own hip and run straight at the gunfire.

Hurley took cover using a brick wall at the corner of the Arvada library, Troyanos said.

The armed customer waited for the shooter to come back into view before opening fire, according to the witness.

“When the gunman came back toward the plaza, that’s when Hurley opened fire on him,” Troyanos said.

“I did see him shoot the gunman,” Troyanos said.

Troyanos never saw what happened after that because people inside the store were yelling at him to lock the door and take cover. The next thing he knew, Hurley was being carried away on a stretcher.

Friends described Hurley as a fiercely independent thinker who had trained in wilderness survival, according to reports.

The 40-year-old had always said he wanted to be the one who stepped up if an incident like this occurred.

“At his core, if there’s a problem, he went toward it,” said his friend Jed Burtoft.

Two men had run toward the same gunfire that day, including an officer and a customer with a concealed pistol. Both of them ended up dead, according to authorities.

Arvada police confirmed an officer has been placed on administrative leave following the shooting.

A multi-agency Critical Incident Response Team is currently investigating the incident, police said.

Authorities have said almost nothing about how Hurley died or how the gunman went down. Police have also not revealed what happened between the moment Hurley fired and the moment he ended up on the stretcher.

“We owe a thorough and complete review of the incident to both Mr. Hurley’s family and Officer Beesley’s family,” police said in a statement.