Adult Fires on an Armed Juvenile at Longmont Dollar Tree

An adult man fired multiple rounds in a Longmont Dollar Tree parking lot on September 12, hitting a boy under 18 at least once. Police were called to 2255 Main Street around 2:45 p.m., and city of Longmont spokesperson Sandra Seader said the two had encountered each other at the store.

Investigators said the boy picked up a weapon during an altercation outside, then the suspect pulled a firearm and fired. Seader said the victim was also armed. A 4:25 p.m. email from her said the shooter was at large.

Investigators Say the Boy Picked Up a Weapon

This was not a robbery of the register. Longmont Police Department investigators described a man and a boy under 18 who came across each other outside the store and got into a fight. In that fight, investigators said, the boy picked up a weapon. The adult then pulled a firearm and fired multiple rounds in the parking lot.

Seader’s account matches the bones of that sequence. She said an adult male and a juvenile male victim encountered each other at the store, that the person who fired pulled out a firearm, and that the victim was also armed. She said the shots hit the boy “at least once.” He was taken to an area hospital. Police have not said which hospital, and they have not described the wound.

They have also not said what the boy picked up. Investigators called it a weapon. Seader said he was armed. Only the adult’s gun has been described as a firearm. That gap matters later, because Colorado treats a handgun in a juvenile’s hands in a public lot as its own offense, and it treats a knife, a bat, or some other object differently.

THE SATURDAY SEQUENCE

1. Around 2:45 p.m., September 12, 2026: Officers are called to the Dollar Tree at 2255 Main Street after shots in the parking lot.
2. Saturday afternoon: An adult male and a boy under 18 fight outside the store; investigators say the boy picks up a weapon and the adult fires multiple rounds, hitting the boy at least once.
3. 4:25 p.m., September 12, 2026: Seader emails that the shooter is at large. The boy is at a hospital. No suspect name is released.

From the 2:45 p.m. call to that 4:25 p.m. email, one hour and 40 minutes passed with the adult still unnamed in public. No later city notice on September 12 put a name or a description on him.

Two Weapons in a Dollar Tree Lot

Two people in that lot had weapons in play, and the shots still went one way. The boy who investigators say picked up a weapon is the person who went to the hospital. The adult who pulled the firearm is the person who left.

Seader did not describe a hold-up, a carjacking, or a fight that spilled out of the aisles. She described a meeting at the store that ended with gunfire on the asphalt. The store supplied the parking spaces. The conflict walked in with the two of them.

That is a harder scene for bystanders than a locked-door crime. A parking lot at 2:45 p.m. on a Saturday is a place people cross with bags, carts, and kids. Multiple rounds in that lot means spent casings, a wounded boy, and an adult who still had a gun when he left the property.

Police have not said who threw the first punch, who owned the weapon the boy picked up, or whether the adult will claim he fired in self-defense. They have said the boy was hit and the adult was gone.

Called to Main Street at 2:45 p.m.

The store is the chain’s Horizon Park Center store on Main Street, listed as 2255 Main Street Unit 114 in Longmont, 80501. Its own hours put Saturday between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., so the lot was in the middle of a normal shopping day when the shots were fired.

Horizon Park Center sits on Main Street, which is State Highway 287, just off State Highway 66 on the north side of the city. A leasing listing for the center names King Soopers, Murdoch’s Ranch & Home Supply, and Planet Fitness as co-tenants alongside Dollar Tree. That mix pulls grocery trips, gym visits, and errands through the same asphalt the police taped off Saturday afternoon.

Staff photographs from the scene show the storefront cordoned after the call. Police have not said whether anyone inside the store was hurt, and they have not said the gunfire crossed the threshold. The rounds they have described were in the parking lot.

Dollar Tree has not posted a public note on the shooting. The company’s location page still presents Unit 114 as an ordinary Horizon Park stop, with no incident banner and no change to the listed hours.

Who Else Was Standing in That Lot?

The two people in the fight were not the only ones tied to that asphalt. A Saturday lot on Main Street puts clerks, shoppers, and drivers next to a scene they did not choose.

WHO HAD SKIN IN THAT LOT

• The boy: He is under 18, was hit at least once, went to a hospital, and, if the object he picked up was a handgun, may also face a weapons question of his own.
• The adult: He fired multiple rounds, left the lot, and had not been named in any city notice by 4:25 p.m.
• Dollar Tree clerks: They were on a regular Saturday shift at Unit 114 while shots were fired just outside.
• Other Horizon Park traffic: Grocery, gym, and hardware customers share that center, and a taped-off storefront stops more than one errand.

Police have not released witness counts, and they have not said whether clerks saw the fight start. They have asked anyone with information to call Longmont Police Department at 303-774-3700.

A Parking Lot Is Not a Legal Exception

Colorado already has a rule for a person under 18 who has a handgun. Illegal possession of a handgun by a juvenile is the charge in C.R.S. § 18-12-108.5. The first offense is a class 2 misdemeanor. A second or later offense is a class 5 felony.

Except as provided in this section, it is unlawful for any person who has not attained the age of eighteen years knowingly to have any handgun in such person’s possession.

Colorado Revised Statutes § 18-12-108.5

The statute carves out hunter-safety classes, authorized ranges, licensed hunts, travel to those activities with an unloaded gun, a parent’s or grandparent’s land with permission, and a residence for self-defense with a parent’s permission. A discount-store parking lot on Main Street is none of those places.

JUVENILE HANDGUN RULES IN COLORADO

That table is not a charging sheet. Police have not said the boy’s weapon was a handgun, so the statute may not apply. If it was a handgun, the lot at 2255 Main Street does not look like any of the safe harbors in the code. A state rules on who may possess a handgun review also notes that Colorado, since August 2023, makes it a misdemeanor for a person under 21 to buy a firearm. The boy in this case is under 18, so the older under-21 purchase rule sits behind the tighter juvenile-possession ban, not in front of it.

A Colorado General Assembly firearms law summary states the same floor in plain terms: persons under 18 are prohibited from possessing handguns, with the listed exceptions. Open carry for adults is otherwise broadly allowed in Colorado, which is how an adult can lawfully walk into a retail lot with a gun and still be the person who fired it. The statute does not decide who started Saturday’s fight. It does decide that a juvenile with a handgun in that lot would already have been on the wrong side of the code before the first round was fired.

Loomiller Park, Grandview Meadows, and a Dollar Tree Lot

Longmont has already had gunfire in public lots and parks that did not start as store robberies. Saturday’s scene sits on that shorter list, not on a list of hold-ups.

LONGMONT PUBLIC-LOT GUN CASES

Those three cases are not the same crime. Grandview Meadows ended in a trial and a long prison term. Loomiller Park was still a hunt for a suspect when police hit four addresses in July, and Detective Sonia Bragulla was the contact on report 26-5378. Saturday’s Dollar Tree lot is the only one of the three that put a juvenile in the hospital and left an adult unnamed the same afternoon.

People who grew up in Longmont now watch public-lot gunfire stack up in a city that used to feel quieter than that. Saturday did not need a new category. It needed a name for the adult who fired and a medical update on the boy who was hit.

Police Released No Name for the Shooter

By 4:25 p.m. Saturday, Seader’s email still described the shooter as at large. Investigators were still searching that evening. They released no name, no age for the adult, no clothing description in the public notes, and no vehicle.

Anyone with information can call Longmont Police Department at 303-774-3700. The city also keeps an anonymous tip hotline at 303-774-3700, and Northern Colorado Crime Stoppers takes tips at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) with a cash reward of up to $2,000 if a tip leads to an arrest and charges.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The call: Police were sent to 2255 Main Street around 2:45 p.m. on September 12, 2026.
• The people: An adult male and a boy under 18 met at the store and fought outside.
• The shots: The adult fired multiple rounds in the parking lot and hit the boy at least once.
• The weapons: Investigators say the boy picked up a weapon; Seader said the victim was also armed; only the adult’s gun is described as a firearm.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• The adult: No name, photo, age, or car has been released.
• The boy’s weapon: Police have not said whether it was a handgun or something else.
• The injury: “At least once” is the only public count; no hospital has been named.
• Self-defense: No official has said who started the fight or how the adult will be charged.

Until police name the adult, Horizon Park is a taped-off Saturday scene with a wounded boy and a gun still in someone else’s hand. The next hard fact is the one they have not given: who fired, and where he went after he left the lot.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of a police investigation and of Colorado firearms statutes. It is informational only and does not constitute legal advice, medical advice, or a finding of guilt, self-defense, or the legality of any weapon involved. Readers with a legal question about this case or about Colorado gun law should consult a licensed Colorado attorney before acting on anything described here. Figures, charges, and the suspect’s status reflect official statements from September 12, 2026, and may change as the investigation proceeds.