A Lakewood man may be on his way to a plea deal after allegedly ramming police vehicles at the Evergreen Walmart just a day after the Evergreen High School shooting.

Tyler Young, 33, waived his right to a preliminary hearing in a Jefferson County courtroom Monday morning, in which prosecutors present evidence and the judge decides if there is enough evidence to send the case trial.

Waiving the preliminary hearing often means a plea deal is in the works as the defendant admits prosecutors have enough evidence to possibly get a conviction. A spokesperson with the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office said an official plea deal has not been finalized or submitted yet.

Young was charged with six felony counts, including first- and second-degree vehicle theft, vehicular eluding and second-degree assault on a peace officer, in connection to the incident that occurred at the Walmart on Swede Gulch Road around 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 11.

Local police departments, including the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, were called in to look for a stolen Ford F-150 out of Summit County that had been tracked to the Walmart, according to arrest records.

When officers arrived, they saw a man — later identified as Young — walking toward the truck. Three officers pulled in front of the truck. Young allegedly rammed through the vehicles, with one Colorado State Patrol officer firing his rifle at the truck as it fled.

According to witnesses Shirley and Leigh Jones, who were eating inside of the restaurant when the incident occurred, multiple police vehicles swarmed a pickup truck. The pickup truck maneuvered, causing a police SUV to crash into a median, and took off.

An officer left the crashed vehicle and fired around eight shots at the truck, according to witnesses. The truck then fled onto Interstate 70 heading eastbound.

Young then fled to the on-ramp for eastbound Interstate 70, according to arrest records. Law enforcement pursued him, with speeds exceeding 100 mph down the interstate.

Young reportedly drove “erratically” around vehicles.

Officers attempted to spin the truck out, a Precision Immobilization Technique (PIT) maneuver, two times. The truck eventually spun into a runaway truck ramp and stopped around mile marker 257.

Young suffered minor injuries and was apprehended. One of the officers was also injured when the truck rammed into his vehicle, according to the arrest affidavit.

In an interview following the arrest, Young told officers that he did not know the police were, in fact, police and thought the sirens were for someone else.

The district attorney’s office’s Critical Incident Response Team is still investigating the officer who fired at the truck to determine if it was a justified use of force, with it likely ending after the criminal case is concluded, a spokesperson from the office said.

Young had three motor vehicle theft convictions before the Sept. 11 incident, including two in Jefferson County between 2020-2021 and one in Gilpin County in 2022.

About 3 miles away, hundreds of people gathered at Buchanan Park to send love and prayers to the two Evergreen High School students shot and injured in a shooting on the campus on Sept. 10.

The suspect, 16-year-old Desmond Holly, later died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. The two victims have since been released from the hospital.

“Between yesterday and today, these are the two days of violence that have surpassed anything I’ve witnessed living up here,” Shirley Jones said about her 30 years in the city after the two incidents.

Young is due in court on Feb. 12. He’s also due in Gilpin County for an arraignment on Jan. 30.