A man with a lengthy criminal history is in custody on charges of shooting at police and suspicion of shooting and killing a hotel security guard.
Police say 44-year-old Donovan Bookout is well known to law enforcement dating back to 1996, when he was charged with aggravated assault. He also had incidents in 2014 and 2015. But his latest brush with the law could land him a long time behind bars.
According to a KRQE report, police encountered Bookout after finding the body of hotel security guard Daniel Mora, 38, lying in a parking lot near the Ambassador Inn at 1520 Candelaria. Surveillance video showed a man in a grey hoodie shooting Mora as he was making his rounds that evening. A subsequent nearby armed car-jacking led officers to Bookout, who took the vehicle on a high-speed chase with police in pursuit.
According to APD Chief Harold Medina, Bookout crashed into two police cars and flashed a firearm as he exited the vehicle and ran. “Officers got in a foot pursuit with the suspect and at that point in time is when officers discharged their firearms,” Medina told KRQE. No officers were injured and the suspect was not struck.
After being charged with aggravated assault in 1996, Bookout was arrested again in 2014 for shooting a man in the leg. The charges were later dismissed. In 2015, according to the KRQE report, he carjacked a woman at gunpoint and drove the car into a power pole. Those charges were dropped after he was ruled incompetent to stand trial.
