Rep. Ryan Armagost, an Iraq War veteran and former deputy sheriff, watched in horror as the video of what the Denver police described as the “ambush” of an officer unfold.

In the video, a man opens a gate and enters. A police car is parked just a few feet away. Within seconds, the man pulls out a gun and opens fire at the police car.

The officer inside opens the driver’s door, falls to the ground and staggers out of view. A shootout ensues.

“Shots fired. I’m hit,” the officer says. “Suspect, I think, is down.”

Armagost, a Republican who represents Berthoud, said he earlier heard that two Denver officers were shot within 24 hours of each other. He didn’t know yet that he, in fact, knows one of the officers very well.

That officer and Armagost were members of the Army National Guard, and they deployed to Iraq in 2008 as part of the same platoon. Both served as squad leaders and were assigned to detainee operations. They also shared a similar background, as both previously served in the U.S. Marines.

The officer who survived the “ambush” on June 7 outside the Quality Inn near North Speer Boulevard and Interstate 25 was hit several times, but his bulletproof vest stopped three rounds, one to his chest and two to his back, according to the Denver Police Department.

Two days after the shooting, Armagost said that officer, whose name has not been released to the public, told friends via social media that he was fine.

“Everyone that knows … I’m OK,” Armagost quoted the officer as saying.

The officer added his vest saved his life.

That’s when Armagost said he realized it was his fellow veteran, whom he spent nine months together in Iraq, who got shot.

“It definitely hits closer to home when it’s somebody you personally know,” Armagost said. “Hearing the sound of his voice after that made me realize he was definitely in distress when he said, ‘I’m hit.'”

After learning it was his friend, Armagost said that’s also when he recognized the officer’s voice in the video.

“I’m glad he won the fight,” Armagost said.

In a Twitter post and in an interview later, Armagost blamed the policies coming out of state Capitol for fostering what he described as an environment that is “soft on violent adult criminals and repeat offenders,” which, he added, is “not helping society.”

There’s no way to know what the motive is behind the “ambush” of his friend, Armagost told Colorado Politics.

“It’s the environment that we’re fostering – violent behavior, mental illness – all of these things that are putting our officers in these kinds of positions,” he said.

The position that Armagost articulated hews to Republican orthodoxy – specifically the belief that guns, per se, are not the source of violence, but, rather, it’s the people who pulled the trigger. Republicans have decried the slew of gun-related legislation coming out of the state Capitol, arguing they make it harder for Coloradans who legitimately need weapons to defend themselves and they make erstwhile lawful activity into an illegal one, thereby turning residents into criminals.

Democrats have countered that guns are the problems and it’s a moral imperative to curb their proliferation and make it harder to access or use them. In signing several gun bills in May, Gov. Jared Polis called them a “significant investment in making Colorado safer.” He said Coloradans deserve to be safe in their communities, schools, grocery stores, nightclubs and everywhere in between, adding: “They shouldn’t have to fear the threat of gun violence.”

At the same signing ceremony, Attorney General Phil Weiser said: “There’s so much trauma in this room … We are living in a time where the Second Amendment has been taken to a place that makes no sense.”

During a press conference last week, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said the two incidents involving the police officers illustrate the challenges law enforcement faces in Denver “with far too many guns in our community.” In the second incident, which also happened on June 7, a police officer exchanged fire with a 17-year-old suspect. Both were taken to the hospital and have since been released.

Armagost said after he and his friend returned home and left the service, the officer joined the Denver Police Department, while he went to the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.

They kept in touch.

“We both had been overseas a few times and came back, and to have even more combative incidents like that take place at home is just scary and kind of sad at the same time,” Armagost said.