Colorado Couple Charged with Murder After Woman Shoots Alleged Intruder

in Authors, Defensive Use of Firearms, Jordan Michaels, This Week
Colorado Couple Charged with Murder After Woman Shoots Alleged Intruder
Kevin Wertin (left) and Emily Strunk (right) were arrested for first-degree attempted murder.

Self-defense incidents aren’t always as they first appear. Sometimes, further investigation reveals that the attacker and victim already knew one another, or that the “victim” isn’t as innocent as they claim to be.

According to the Aurora Police Department, that’s what happened in this case.

Police in Aurora, Colorado, were called to an apartment last Saturday by a woman who claimed to have shot an intruder in self-defense. The woman, 26-year-old Emily Strunk, told police the man was a former boyfriend who had broken into the apartment and attacked the other male occupant of the apartment, 28-year-old Kevin Wertin.

Strunk decided to shoot the intruder (who police have not identified) after she saw him attacking Wertin. Strunk was initially detained, but either police didn’t have enough information to hold her, or they believed she was telling the truth. She was released pending further investigation.

Two days later, police arrested both Strunk and Wertin and charged them with attempted first-degree murder. They have not released any further details about the case, though they did say in a press release that the intruder was in critical condition as of August 3.

It also appears that Wertin may have fled the scene by the time the police arrived. The first tweet about this incident from the Aurora Police Department mentioned an adult male who had been shot and an adult female in custody, but said nothing about another person.

“We are not looking for any additional parties,” the tweet said.

SEE ALSO: Texas Homeowner Uses Rifle to Defend Kids from Three Home Intruders

Based on what looks like her Facebook profile, Strunk appears to originally be from East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, while Wertin’s profile lists his hometown as Denver.

Some Twitter users who responded to the story praised ADP while others wondered why the woman had been arrested.

The case is currently being investigated by the Major Crimes Homicide Unit of the Aurora PD. They’re asking anyone who witnessed this incident, or has information about it, to call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.

UPDATE (8/6/2021): GunsAmerica has obtained a sworn arrest affidavit written by a detective with the Aurora Police Department.

According to the detective, officers viewed footage from a security camera showing Wertin emerging from the apartment to confront the alleged “intruder” with a set of brass knuckles (GunsAmerica is not revealing his name because he has not been charged with a crime). Wertin appears to be the aggressor in the incident, and footage shows that he was not being strangled when Strunk shot him, as she originally claimed. Instead, Strunk and Wertin were holding the man down when Strunk shot him with a 9mm HK VP SK.

Strunk told police that the man was a boyfriend, and they engaged in sexual activity that was consensual “some of the time.” She told police that he sexually assaulted her multiple times, and prior to this incident, she had filed a police report with Aurora PD claiming the man sexually assaulted her on July 10th and 13th. In the affidavit, the detective confirms that this report was filed. Strunk told police that Wertin had been living with her for about a week to protect her from the man who she shot in this incident.

The affidavit also confirms that Wertin fled the scene following the shooting.

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About the author: Jordan Michaels has been reviewing firearm-related products for over six years and enjoying them for much longer. With family in Canada, he’s seen first hand how quickly the right to self-defense can be stripped from law-abiding citizens. He escaped that statist paradise at a young age, married a sixth-generation Texan, and currently lives in Tyler. Got a hot tip? Send him an email at [email protected].

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  • Joe August 31, 2021, 4:52 pm

    Devils mousetrap got him..

  • BluNos August 16, 2021, 10:09 pm

    Go figure: Aurora the murder capital of Colorado.

  • gary h August 16, 2021, 9:07 am

    Meth kills…

    • Lars August 16, 2021, 12:38 pm

      Too bad it doesn’t also make one sterile…

  • Dr Motown August 16, 2021, 8:26 am

    Moral of the story: be VERY CAREFUL about choosing a “sex” partner….it can come back to kill ‘ya, literally

  • Mike in a Truck August 13, 2021, 10:53 am

    They held the guy down then she shot him? At what point was she in danger? Thin line between love and rape it seems. She had sex with the guy somtimes and then other times it was assault? Attention to all men in Aurora- stay away from this mousetrap.

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