PCSO assists with hostage rescue

The Weld County Regional SWAT Team and the Weld County Sheriff’s Office Strike Team — with the assistance of the Sedgwick, Phillips and Logan county sheriff’s offices — coordinated  Monday, night Nov. 22, on a successful hostage rescue mission in northeast Colorado, according to a Nov. 23 press release from Weld County Sheriff’s Office.

Oscar Eduardo Valles Avila, 26, who had been missing since Saturday night, Nov. 20, was rescued during the massive, multi-agency operation.

He was secured by members of the Weld County Regional SWAT Team about 8:15 p.m. at a gas station off Interstate 76 in Julesburg.

Avila was last seen about 11:30 p.m. Saturday when he and Gilbert Gutierrez, 40, were taken to the 23600 block of Blake Street in unincorporated Weld County just outside of Johnstown. Gutierrez’s deceased body was discovered Sunday afternoon, Nov. 21, at the Blake Street location.

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