Brandon Cole was wielding a marker when he was shot by police

Brandon Cole, a man who was shot and killed by Denver police, was unarmed and wielding a magic marker during his confrontation with law enforcement officers earlier this month, newly released bodycam video shows.

Authorities were responding to an alleged domestic violence incident involving Cole, his wife and his teenage son when the deadly shooting unfolded on August 5. They’d just received a 911 call from a neighbor, who believed Cole pushed the woman from her wheelchair and that he was “going after” his son. the Denver Post reported.

When they arrived on the scene, officers found a woman on the ground, and then Cole, who appeared to be armed with a knife.

“Don’t, don’t pull your gun out on my husband, please,” she can be heard telling officers in bodycam footage.

Cole then started shouting — at one point aggressively saying, “Let’s go!’ — and was struck with a stun gun as he approached one of the officers. Investigators said they believe only one probe from the stun gun hit Cole and did not prevent him from charging the other officer, who then shot and killed him.

In the seconds before the gunfire, Cole can be seen raising a marker to chest level then racing toward the officer, the bodycam footage shows.

“This is a tremendous tragedy,” Chief Ron Thomas said during a news conference Monday. He added that the Denver District Attorney’s Office will determine if the officer acted legally when she shot Cole.

“You can see in the video that when she finally deploys her duty weapon, the person is so close to her that the view of the young child and other person are not even clear to her,” Thomas continued. “Certainly that was a consideration, but there was not much time to act before she was overrun by that individual.”

The officer who shot Cole has not been identified. She’s been with the police department since 2019 and has not been involved in any other shootings.

With News Wire Services