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Tag: Police Shootings

  • Family of Black man killed by Aurora police intends to sue the city

    The family of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield served notice Monday to the city of Aurora that they intend to file a lawsuit in connection with the August shooting death of the unarmed Black man.

    Belt-Stubblefield was 37 when he was shot and killed by an Aurora police officer during an Aug. 30 traffic stop, and his then 18-year-old son witnessed the shooting. A notice of claim — a legal step necessary before suing the city — was filed on behalf of Belt-Stubblefield’s family and a second notice was filed on behalf of his son, Zion Murphy.

    The family, along with their lawyer Milo Schwab, held a news conference to announce the filing and then attended the Aurora City Council meeting where they spoke about a lack of transparency surrounding the shooting and a need for accountability for officer Matthew Neely, who fired the fatal shots. Neely’s name had not been released by the police department.

    “No child should ever have to witness that,” said Erica Murphy, Zion Murphy’s mother. “No child should have to carry the trauma for the rest of their life. Rajon was more than a headline. He was more than a police report. He was a father. He was loved. He mattered.”

    On the night of the shooting, Neely tried to pull over Belt-Stubblefield for speeding and a possible DUI near East Sixth Avenue and Sable Boulevard. Zion Murphy was driving behind his father in another car.

    AURORA, CO – FEBRUARY 23: Family and attorneys of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield hold a press conference at the Aurora Municipal Center to announce legal action concerning Belt-Stubblefield who was fatally shot by Aurora police last August on February 23, 2026 in Aurora, Colorado. After the press conference, the crowd gather inside the Aurora City Council chambers to address the mayor and council members. (Photo By Kathryn Scott/Special to The Denver Post)

    Belt-Stubblefield fled and then rear-ended one car before crossing a median and hitting a second vehicle. He was armed but tossed a handgun into the grass before walking toward the officer, Aurora police Chief Todd Chamberlain said at the time.

    Belt-Stubblefield ignored orders to stop and raised his hands, and Neely punched him in an attempt to de-escalate the situation, according to Chamberlain’s account in the days after the shooting. Belt-Stubblefield raised his fist and repeatedly asked if the officer was “ready for this,” Chamberlain said.

    The officer shot Belt-Stubblefield as he continued to move toward him, backing Neely into the street, Chamberlain said.

    Belt-Stubblefield died at the scene.

    But the notices of claim filed by Schwab offer a different perspective on what happened.

    Neely pointed his weapon at Belt-Stubblefield as soon as he exited his wrecked car, and Belt-Stubblefield asked the officer not to shoot him as he tossed his gun into the grass. Neely tried to grab Belt-Stubblefield by the neck and take him to the ground, but the officer is the one who fell, according to the notice of claim. Belt-Stubblefield did not take aggressive action and tried to walk away.

    Neely then followed Belt-Stubblefield, shoved him in the back and then as Belt-Stubblefield turned to speak to his son Neely “suckerpunched Mr. Belt-Stubblefield in the back of the head, causing Mr. Belt-Stubblefield to put his fists up to protect his head,” the notice of claim stated.

    Neely backed into the street with his gun and fired three times. The first two shots struck Belt-Stubblefield in the chest, and he stopped and looked at Neely. Neely then fired the third shot into Belton-Stubblefield’s head, killing him at the scene, the notice of claim said.

    Schwab said the city has not communicated with the family in the six months since the shooting, and the officer has not been disciplined for his actions.

    “We’ve given it six months,” he said. “We’re done waiting.”

    The shooting drew national attention, leading prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump to visit with Belt-Stubblefield’s widow and to condemn the fatal shooting.

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  • Family of man killed by Douglas County deputy files wrongful death suit

    The Douglas County sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed a man in the parking lot of a Highlands Ranch arcade last year attacked him “unreasonably and excessively,” according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed Monday by the man’s family.

    Jalin Seabron, 23, died after Douglas County Deputy Nicholas Moore shot at him nine times while responding to reports of an active shooter at Main Event, striking him with seven bullets in the back and side. Seabron was not the shooter, but he was armed.

    Seabron had pulled the gun out to defend his friends and family, who were celebrating his birthday with him at the arcade, 64 Centennial Blvd., according to the lawsuit.

    Moore “unreasonably and recklessly charged into the scene, … without adequately evaluating the situation, utilizing a position of cover, or waiting for backup,” the lawsuit alleges. The deputy fired all nine shots within 15 seconds of arriving in the Main Event parking lot, his body camera video showed.

    “Hey!” the officer is heard shouting in the video. “Drop the gun! Drop the gun! Now! Drop it!”

    A woman can also be heard in the video, crying out for Moore not to shoot.

    The warnings to drop the weapon happened over roughly three seconds. When Seabron didn’t immediately respond and turned his head toward Moore, not appearing to raise his weapon from his side, the deputy started shooting.

    “At the time Moore opened fire, Mr. Seabron still had his back to the deputy and had just barely started to turn his head in reaction to the yelled commands,” the lawsuit stated.

    Moore “wrongly assumed” Seabron was the shooter and shot him without “verifying whether Mr. Seabron actually posed a threat, or providing Mr. Seabron a reasonable opportunity to comply with commands,” the lawsuit alleges. Seabron didn’t have time to process the orders, let alone obey them, the document claims.

    George Brauchler, the 23rd Judicial District Attorney, declined to file criminal charges against Moore in April 2025, after a month-long investigation into the police shooting by the district’s critical incident response team, according to a decision letter he sent to Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly.

    The deputy gave Seabron several commands to drop his gun, but the commands all happened within three seconds, according to the decision letter. Moore did not verbally identify himself as law enforcement, and did not use his sirens while responding to the scene, the letter confirms.

    State law allows a police officer to forgo that announcement if they believe doing so “would unduly place peace officers at risk or would create a risk of death or injury to other persons,” Brauchler said during an April news conference.

    The shooting inside the Highlands Ranch arcade started as a fight in the bathroom between Seabron’s stepsister, 23-year-old Nevaeha Crowley-Sanders, and a friend she had known since high school. Authorities said Crowley-Sanders pulled out a handgun and shot at the 22-year-old victim, her friend, eight times.

    Crowley-Sanders was assaulted by a group of women in the restroom and fired her gun in self-defense, ending the altercation, according to the lawsuit. The woman shot by Crowley-Sanders survived her injuries, and Crowley-Sanders was charged with attempted murder.

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  • Two Denver suburbs eye new oversight of their police departments

    Two Front Range cities are eyeing more oversight for their police departments.

    Lakewood’s City Council voted last week to “work toward the establishment” of an independent civilian oversight board for the city’s police department. And in Aurora, the city set aside about $330,000 this year to fund an Office of Police Accountability — even as city officials say they are still considering how oversight should be structured.

    The creation of an independent oversight board in Lakewood would put the city into the company of just a handful of Front Range cities with such boards, including Denver and Boulder. The push for more oversight came to a head in Lakewood after the death of Jax Gratton, a 34-year-old transgender woman who disappeared in April and was found dead in June.

    Lakewood police faced criticism for their handling of the case, including for announcing Gratton’s death by using her deadname and, later, for a lack of transparency about the investigation. Gratton’s case spurred the move toward an oversight committee, but the push is also rooted in wider issues around trust between police and community, Lakewood Councilwoman Isabel Cruz said.

    “Although this specific incident really brought this to the fore, and the demands of community activists really pushed us, it is rooted in a lot of different conversations,” she said.

    City Council members overwhelmingly voted Jan. 26 to create a 12-month committee to work toward the creation of a permanent oversight board. The temporary committee will have access to police records, completed internal affairs investigations and body-worn camera footage, and will be able to review complaints submitted to the police department.

    At the end of the 12-month period, the committee will report to the City Council about how a permanent police oversight committee would be staffed and structured, among other recommendations.

    Council members will then have the power to move forward with the permanent board or end the oversight effort.

    Lakewood Police Department spokesman John Romero declined to comment on the push for oversight. About three dozen police officers packed last week’s council meeting, where Lakewood police Agent Quinn Pratt-Cordova, an executive board member of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 21, spoke against independent oversight.

    An oversight board would be redundant, he said, and could damage officers’ trust in the city. Such oversight might “deter top talent,” from the police department, Pratt-Cordova said.

    “Civilian oversight boards are rare and often follow severe systemic issues like those in other cities, issues that the majority of you don’t agree exist in the local police department,” Pratt-Cordova told council members. “The unnecessary creation of an oversight board attempts to apply an unwarranted national narrative to Lakewood PD.”

    Lakewood Mayor Wendi Strom said she hopes any permanent effort will be aimed at improving police-community relations in ways that go beyond traditional independent oversight.

    “The oversight word, I think, it is a big sticking point and one that — especially for folks within the public safety realm — has a very specific meaning,” she said in an interview. “So what we end up with, it is hard to tell. But for me, and I think City Council has been pretty clear on this in multiple conversations over the last month, the end goal is ultimately to help our community members feel more comfortable reaching out when there is a need.”

    In Denver, city officials created a citizen oversight board in 2004 after a Denver police officer shot and killed Paul Childs, a developmentally disabled 15-year-old boy. Boulder’s citizen oversight panel — which recently saw its reach curtailed — followed a 2019 incident in which an officer pulled a gun on a Black student who was picking up trash outside his home.

    In Aurora, the police department entered into a consent decree — court-ordered reforms overseen by an independent monitor — after the 2019 killing of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died after Aurora police officers violently restrained him and paramedics injected him with a too-large dose of a powerful sedative.

    McClain’s death was part of a pattern of racial bias and excessive force within the Aurora Police Department, state officials later found.

    Aurora City Manager Jason Batchelor hopes the city’s two-person Office of Police Accountability will serve as an independent monitor for the police department when police exit the consent decree and are no longer under the supervision of the court-ordered monitor. The creation of such a position is a requirement of the consent decree.

    The new office would report to the city manager, Batchelor said, but would be created with built-in protections aimed at ensuring its independence, including putting into city ordinance the office’s right to have free and unfettered access to information and budgetary safeguards to ensure it could not be defunded by the city manager. The protections would mirror Aurora’s approach to its internal auditor, which operates independently and would work in tandem with the new office, Batchelor said.

    “I don’t get to tell the internal auditor, ‘That might make me look bad, don’t publish that,’” Batchelor said. “That can’t happen.”

    The Office of Police Accountability, which Batchelor hopes to be ready to hire for in a few months, would have “contemporaneous oversight” of any city investigation, he said. The office would not oversee police discipline and would not conduct its own investigations into police misconduct. Instead, the employees would be able to flag problems or concerns about such investigations to Batchelor, the City Council or to the public.

    Aurora Councilwoman Amy Wiles, who has helped to organize community meetings to discuss police oversight as recently as this week, said residents need a neutral place to report police misconduct.

    “Right now, if you want to report something — you had a poor interaction with a police officer or you feel something wasn’t right — to call and report that is a bit invasive. You have to call the police department,” she said. “…So we are hoping this provides that level of security to community to say, ‘Hey if something went wrong, here is this neutral person you can reach out to.’”

    The Office of Police Accountability could receive complaints of police misconduct directly from the public, Batchelor said, and then would “partner with the (police) department to make sure that any complaints are fully investigated.”

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  • Colorado Springs officer, suspect injured in shooting, police say

    An officer and a suspect were injured Monday afternoon in a Colorado Springs shooting involving police, according to the department.

    The Colorado Springs Police Department first posted about the shooting in the 2600 block of East Bijou Street in East Colorado Springs at 2:48 p.m. Monday.

    Around 1:30 p.m. Monday, CSPD Tactical Enforcement Unit and the Colorado Parole Fugitive Apprehension Unit were in the area of East Bijou Street and Balfour Avenue conducting a “fugitive apprehension operation,” CSPD said. After the operation, CSPD officers contacted a suspicious man in the same area, CSPD said. The man ran away, took out a handgun and a shot a CSPD officer, police said. Two CSPD officers then returned fire, shooting the suspect.

    The suspect and the officer were taken to a local hospital. The officer sustained “serious but non-life-threatening” gunshot wound, police said. The suspect is in critical condition.

    The identity of the injured officer and the suspect are not being released at this time, CSPD said. The El Paso County Sheriff’s office is assuming responsibility for the investigation.

    This is the second Colorado Springs police shooting in three days.

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  • Mamdani Reacts Carefully to Two Police Shootings on Same Day

    Police vehicles parked outside NewYork–Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital on Thursday after an officer shot a man wielding a sharp object inside.
    Photo: David Caruso/AP Photo

    NYPD officers in Brooklyn and Manhattan shot and killed weapon-wielding suspects in two separate incidents on Thursday, a rare occurrence in a city that saw a total of 14 fatal shootings by police all of last year.

    In his first public comments on the incidents, Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the pair of shootings “devastating to all New Yorkers.”

    “I know many are eager for answers. The NYPD is conducting an internal investigation — I will work with Commissioner Tisch to ensure this is as thorough and swift as possible,” Mamdani wrote on social media Friday. “These tragedies are painful, whether they take place steps from our home or miles away. They are a reminder of the immense work that must be done to deliver genuine public safety — work Commissioner Tisch and I are undertaking together every day.”

    In Brooklyn, police officials said that the department received multiple 911 calls shortly before 5:30 p.m. concerning a “violent male armed with a knife” at Methodist Hospital in Park Slope.

    “The calls stated that he had barricaded himself inside a room with other people and had cut himself and was trying to cut other people. According to hospital staff, the subject had also threatened to kill them,” Assistant Chief Charles Minch said at a briefing Thursday evening.

    Per the official police account, officers arrived at the eighth floor of the hospital, where they saw blood on the walls, floor, and on the outside of the door where the man was located along with an elderly patient and a member of the hospital security staff who were trapped inside the room with him. Minch said the man displayed the bloody weapon and refused multiple orders from the officers to drop it, beginning a seven-minute standoff in which the suspect attempted to forcibly close the door as law enforcement tried to keep it open. As the suspect advanced, officers fired a firearm and a Taser simultaneously, with the stun gun failing to subdue the suspect. According to Minch, the suspect advanced again and officers once again deployed their Tasers, which were, once again, ineffective. The officers then opened fire with their firearms, striking the suspect who was soon pronounced dead.

    “This situation could’ve turned out very differently,” Minch said.

    Though authorities had not yet identified the source of the weapon at the time of the briefing, the Daily News has since reported that the weapon was believed to be a shard from a broken toilet seat, according to sources. The suspect was later revealed to have been a patient at the hospital who was admitted Wednesday.

    At a briefing in the West Village, Assistant Chief James McCarthy said that officers were flagged down at 10:53 p.m. around Bedford and Sixth Avenues by two people who said they were involved in a crash with a car that was attempting to flee the scene. When officers arrived, a 37-year-old man exited a BMW, drawing what appeared to be a gun and pointing it at the officers. The officers then opened fire, striking the suspect. He was transported to a nearby hospital where he was later pronounced dead. “The suspect maintained possession of the firearm while officers repeatedly gave commands for him to drop the weapon,” McCarthy said.

    Police later retrieved what was deemed to be a fake gun from the scene, sharing a picture of the weapon on social media. The incident was captured on bodycam footage and is currently being investigated by the Force Investigation Division.

    Many noted that the mayor waited until Friday morning to address the two shootings from Thursday evening. At an unrelated press conference, Mamdani said though he had been briefed on the incidents late last night, he wanted to exercise caution with his comments. “I take it very seriously, the language that I use. And I think that in a situation such as this, you have to be very intentional in what you share,” he said.

    A use-of-force report issued by the NYPD in late December noted an increase of reportable force usages, recording ​​11,746 incidents in 2024 compared to 9,777 in 2023. 2024 also saw an increase in firearm discharges, with 28 intentional discharges and 14 fatal injuries.

    Nia Prater

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  • Man shot by officers pointed gun before they fired, Northglenn police say

    Northglenn police said Monday that a man their officers shot Friday night near a mall had pointed a gun at them while fleeing.

    At about 9:15 p.m. Friday, police responded to a call about a suspicious person near Northglenn Marketplace. A man fled on foot and pointed a gun at officers during the pursuit, the department said. The shooting happened on the south side of the mall, near W. 104th Avenue and Bannock Street.

    Meg Wingerter

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  • Pueblo officers search for woman injured in police shooting

    A woman was shot at, and believed to be injured by, a Pueblo police officer after driving into a police cruiser Sunday night, according to the agency.

    An unidentified Pueblo officer attempted to pull over a white Dodge Dart at E. Abriendo and Jones avenues, near Interstate 25, shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday, according to a news release from the police department.

    The Dodge driver refused to yield, turned around and drove toward the Pueblo officer, police said in the release.

    The officer repeatedly ordered the driver to stop, but she drove into a marked police car and a separate parked vehicle, police said. That’s when shots were fired and the driver fled the scene.

    Police were searching Monday for 39-year-old Cassandra Lake, who investigators believe was injured. The Dodge was found the night before, under a tarp in the back of a burned-down Pueblo residence in the 1800 block of E. Routt Avenue, police said.

    That block is just 1/5 mile away from the intersection where the shooting happened.

    No Pueblo officers or other bystanders were injured, police said.

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  • Man shot, injured by Northglenn police officers

    A man was shot and injured Friday night by Northglenn officers responding to reports of a suspicious person, according to the police department.

    Northglenn officers were on patrol near the Northglenn Marketplace, 10578 West 104th Avenue, at about 9:15 p.m. Friday when they received the call about a suspicious person in the area, according to a news release from the police department.

    The shooting happened on the south side of the mall, near W. 104th Avenue and Bannock Street, police said.

    When officers found the man, he fled on foot and was shot by an unknown number of officers, police said. It’s unclear how many times the man, who has not been publicly identified, was shot.

    Paramedics took him to the hospital, where he is expected to survive, police said. No officers were injured.

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  • Man fatally shot by Greeley police during traffic stop near North Colorado Medical Center

    A man was fatally shot by a Greeley police officer during a traffic stop near Banner North Colorado Medical Center, law enforcement officials said Wednesday night.

    The shooting happened at 3:50 p.m. near 21st Avenue and 16th Street when a police officer pulled over a vehicle for a traffic stop. The woman driving got out of the vehicle, and a man remained in the passenger seat, the 19th Judicial District said in a news release.

    Police knew the man had a felony arrest warrant. When an officer told him to get out of the vehicle, he did not follow the order and reached toward a bag in his lap. The officer shot the man after he ignored additional commands, officials said Wednesday night.

    He was pronounced dead at the scene. His name will be released by the Weld County coroner’s office.

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  • Man arrested, shot at after fleeing traffic stop in Larimer County

    A man and a Larimer County deputy were injured Sunday morning in an incident that started with an attempted traffic stop and ended in a police shooting, according to county officials.

    The unidentified Larimer County deputy attempted to pull over a driver near Grand Market Avenue and TPC Parkway at 2:32 a.m. Sunday, according to a news release the sheriff’s office.

    Sheriff’s officials said the driver fled, leading the deputy on a chase down Colorado 60.

    The deputy forced the driver to a stop just east of Interstate 25 on Colorado 60, but the driver began to accelerate toward the deputy, according to the sheriff’s office. That’s when the deputy “fired his service weapon.”

    Larimer County sheriff’s officials declined to answer questions about whether the suspect driver was shot or what the bullet hit, but said both the driver and the deputy were taken to hospitals with minor injuries.

    An adult passenger in the suspect vehicle was not injured during the incident.

    The suspect driver was released from the hospital later Sunday morning and arrested on unspecified charges, according to the sheriff’s office. The deputy was also treated and released.

    Lauren Penington

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  • Man shot by Monument officer after 50-mile police chase on I-25

    A man suspected of stealing a truck was shot by police after allegedly leading law enforcement on a chase of more than 50 miles down Interstate 25.

    The man, whose identity has not been released, shot at law enforcement an unknown number of times after driving off the road into a Pueblo County field, investigators said. One Monument police officer shot back, wounding the suspect.

    Monument police officers in El Paso County responded about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday to reports of a pickup stolen in town, according to a news release from the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office.

    Police followed the stolen truck onto I-25 and chased it south, toward Colorado Springs, sheriff’s officials said.

    State troopers learned of the stolen car and chase about 3:45 p.m. Tuesday and, minutes later, had an aircraft following the truck as it sped down I-25, according to the release.

    The driver exited the highway near Pueblo and fired at least once at the group of law enforcement officers following the truck, sheriff’s officials said.

    Pueblo County deputies joined the chase after the driver left the highway. Shortly after, the driver drove off the road into a field near Purcell Boulevard and Fairbanks Drive, according to the sheriff’s office.

    The truck stalled in the field, and the suspect shot several more times at law enforcement, sheriff’s officials said.

    A Monument police officer, who had followed the suspect from the beginning, returned fire and shot the man an unknown number of times, according to Pueblo County sheriff’s officials. At least one bullet hit the suspect, and he was taken to a Colorado Springs hospital by helicopter.

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  • Man fatally shot by La Plata County deputy during domestic violence incident

    A man was shot and killed by a La Plata County sheriff’s deputy on Tuesday afternoon after coming at the deputy with an ax handle and baseball bat during a traffic stop for what appeared to be domestic violence, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

    Multiple people called 911 at around 2:40 p.m. Tuesday about a man and woman who were fighting inside a moving vehicle driving north on U.S. 550 leaving Durango, CBI officials said in a news release Wednesday.

    A La Plata County deputy and Durango police officer spotted the vehicle in the 28000 block of U.S. 550, about six miles north of Durango, and pulled the driver over.

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  • 3 people shot at Denver house party; missing suspect shot at by police

    At least three people were shot early Sunday morning at a house party in Denver, and police are searching for the suspect, according to law enforcement.

    Denver officers responded to reports of a large fight in the 5100 block of North Biscay Court shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday and heard gunshots when they arrived, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said in a news briefing.

    The officers moved toward the sound of gunshots and saw several people running, Thomas said. They spotted one man holding a gun.

    Thomas said the officers confronted the armed suspect, but he refused to drop the gun and “continued to be a threat.” One officer shot at the suspect multiple times.

    That shooting happened about 10 minutes before 2 a.m., before the clocks rolled back an hour for the end of daylight savings time, Thomas said.

    Police originally said that paramedics took the suspect to a hospital with unknown injuries. But Thomas said during the briefing that officers were not able to find the suspect, and it’s unclear if he was injured when the unidentified officer shot at him.

    When officers searched the area for the suspect, they discovered two handguns and three victims who had been shot before police arrived, Thomas said.

    All three victims sustained minor injuries and are expected to survive, he said. No officers were injured in the shooting.

    Lauren Penington

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  • Armed robbery suspect killed in Denver police shooting

    An armed man was shot and killed Monday night by Denver police officers while attempting to rob a gas station, according to the agency.

    Denver officers responded to reports of an armed robbery at the Maverik convenience store in the 3200 block of South Parker Road at about 8:45 p.m. Monday, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said in a news briefing.

    When officers arrived, a security guard told them the armed man had locked himself inside the store with two gas station employees, Thomas said. Officers were developing a tactical plan outside when, less than a minute later, they heard gunshots and forced their way inside.

    Officers confronted and shot at the suspect, who was already firing at them. The suspect went down, and officers rendered medical aid until paramedics arrived.

    Paramedics took the suspect to the hospital, where he later died from his injuries. He will be identified by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.

    The two gas station employees were shot but are expected to survive, Thomas said. Whether they were shot by the suspect or by responding officers remains under investigation.

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  • Gas station employee killed by Parker police after brandishing gun, agency says

    A gas station employee was shot and killed by Parker police on Monday night after brandishing a gun at officers who were responding to calls about shots fired, officials said.

    Officers responded to the area of Jordan Road and Mainstreet at around 10:20 p.m. after residents called 911 about hearing gunshots, the Parker Police Department said in a news release Tuesday.

    Officers found shell casings and live ammunition in the parking lot of the T Square gas station at 17050 E. Mainstreet and spoke with the gas station employee, who initially said he witnessed the shooting.

    “…the employee became very agitated with officers, was acting erratically and lifted his sweatshirt multiple times, brandishing a gun tucked inside his waistband,” agency officials wrote in a 2 p.m. news release.

    Police tried to convince the man to surrender, but he grabbed the gun from his waistband and pointed it at officers, who shot him.

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  • Denver jury awards nearly $20 million to 6 bystanders injured in LoDo police shooting

    Six people who were injured when a Denver Police Department officer fired into a crowd while trying to shoot an armed man in Lower Downtown in 2022 will receive nearly $20 million in damages, a jury ruled Friday.

    The $19.75 million ruling in the civil lawsuit comes one day after jurors began deliberating whether former officer Brandon Ramos was liable for injuring Yekalo Weldehiwet, Bailey Alexander, Willis Small IV, Mark Bess, Angelica Rey and Ayla Bersage when he opened fire on a suspect standing in front of a crowd near a food truck in the early hours of July 17, 2022.

    “The verdict sends an unmistakable message that officers must consider the safety of our communities when they decide to use deadly force,” attorneys with the Denver firm Rathod Mohamedbhai said in a statement. “Officers cannot treat the people of Colorado as collateral damage.”

    Through the lawsuit, the six bystanders asked the jury for $13 million for damages including lost wages, medical bills and pain and suffering and $13 million for punitive damages.

    Ramos was one of three Denver police officers who confronted a 23-year-old man they suspected of being involved in a fight near the Larimer Beer Hall.

    The officers shot the suspect, Jordan Waddy, as he pulled out a gun from his waistband, holding it by the slide. Two of the officers shot him from the front, but Ramos fired from the side, hitting bystanders in the crowd behind Waddy.

    Ramos was indicted on 14 charges in the case and pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, in a plea deal with the Denver District Attorney’s Office. He was sentenced to 18 months of probation and can never work in Colorado law enforcement again.

    Waddy, who was also injured in the shooting, was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit possession of a weapon by a previous offender in 2024.

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  • Jury weighs former Denver cop’s liability for wounding 6 bystanders in LoDo shooting

    After more than three years of painful recovery and an eight-day jury trial, six bystanders wounded during a 2022 police shooting in downtown Denver are hoping for some relief.

    “They were worried about the little things, like getting nervous around girls,” the plaintiffs’ attorney Omeed Azmoudeh told jurors in Denver District Court on Thursday during closing arguments in the civil case. “And then, in a moment: bang, bang, bang, bang.”

    In the early hours of July 17, 2022, the lively night atmosphere in Lower Downtown was shattered by gunshots as three Denver Police Department officers fired on 23-year-old Jordan Waddy, who they suspected had been involved in a fight near the Larimer Beer Hall.

    The officers — Brandon Ramos, Kenneth Rowland and Megan Lieberson — shot Waddy as he pulled out a gun hidden in his waistband. While Rowland and Lieberson shot the man from the front, Ramos fired from the side, toward the crowd behind Waddy.

    By the time Ramos fired, Waddy had already been shot by other officers and fallen to the ground, Azmoudeh said.

    Six bystanders in the crowd were injured that night, either by bullets or flying shrapnel, Azmoudeh said. Ramos’ “reckless and unreasonable” conduct constitutes battery on all six victims, he added.

    “(Ramos) can’t be the first and only person to shoot into a crowd and then say it was his only option,” Azmoudeh said, dismissing the officer’s self-defense claim. He said Ramos and his defense have talked about the community as “collateral to routine police work.”

    Peter Doherty, Ramos’ attorney, said during Thursday’s closing arguments that the now-former Denver police officer was trying to nip the threat of an active shooter in the bud.

    Police tried to direct Waddy back into the open street, away from the crowd, but he didn’t listen and reached for his weapon, Doherty said. Ramos, who he said routinely dealt with shootings and weapons-related violence in the area, decided Waddy “wouldn’t give up” and would likely escalate the situation.

    “The reasonableness of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight,” Doherty said, referencing a 1968 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

    He said the entire trial has evaluated Ramos’s actions through that hindsight, with no allowances for the danger or high-stress situation.

    The victims suffered “egregious” injuries and went through an event that they shouldn’t have had to endure, but that doesn’t make Ramos responsible, Doherty said.

    From left to right shooting victims Willis Small IV, Bailey Alexander and Yekalo Weldewihet speak at Rathod Mohamedbhai law firm on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. A grand jury indicted officer Brandon Ramos on 14 counts stemming from the shooting in 2022 in which he and fellow officers fired at a man in the crowded LoDo neighborhood, injuring bystanders. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

    Both sides disagreed on the number of bullets Ramos shot and when he fired.

    The plaintiffs’ attorney said Ramos fired twice, pointing to two bullets found away from the main crime scene that are believed to have injured the six bystanders. The bullets tore through multiple people and ricocheted off nearby objects, sending shrapnel into the crowd, before settling on the pavement, Azmoudeh said.

    But Doherty told jurors the evidence could only prove Ramos fired once, and it wasn’t clear from the body camera video where he was aiming.

    While investigators recovered eight bullets, they only found seven shell casings at the scene, Doherty said. Nearby cameras also captured seven audio pulses and a total of seven rounds were missing from the officers’ weapons.

    Ramos’s gun magazine was equipped to fit an extra bullet, and any of the shots fired could have masked the sound of the eighth shot, since all rounds were fired in less than two seconds, Azmoudeh said.

    Doherty dismissed both explanations as speculation.

    “The defendants do not have a unifying theory as to what happened, but that’s not our burden to prove,” Doherty said. “…We’re not trying to throw smoke and mirrors, we’re just saying the evidence is missing.”

    The civil trial follows a criminal prosecution of Ramos by the Denver District Attorney’s Office.

    A grand jury indicted Ramos on 14 criminal counts in January 2023, including second-degree assault, third-degree assault, prohibited use of a weapon and reckless endangerment.

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  • Denver’s police oversight office does too much work in secret, audit finds

    The office responsible for independent oversight of Denver’s law enforcement agencies is doing too much of its work in secret, a city audit found.

    The Office of Independent Monitor, which provides civilian oversight for the Denver Police Department and Denver Sheriff Department, has not publicly reported its recommendations about law enforcement misconduct investigations and disciplinary actions for years, undermining the effectiveness of its oversight, city auditor Tim O’Brien found.

    “Because the public doesn’t know what guidance the Monitor’s Office is giving to the police and sheriff departments, the public doesn’t know whether those departments are responding. There is no visible proof of accountability,” he said in a Thursday news release. “The lack of transparency is a disservice to law enforcement oversight.”

    The independent monitor’s office is also not publicly reporting its reviews and evaluations of the two agencies’ policies and practices, and isn’t thoroughly tracking its work. The office lacks a formalized strategic plan, the audit found.

    Former Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and City Council members created the office in 2004 to provide independent oversight for the police and sheriff’s departments in the wake of two controversial police shootings. The monitor’s office reviews police and sheriff disciplinary cases and makes recommendations to the agencies about those cases that are aimed at improving discipline, policies and practices.

    The police and sheriff’s departments do not have to follow the monitor’s recommendations. Because the monitor’s office has not publicly reported its recommendations, it is difficult to tell what sort of changes the office has pursued and whether public safety officials accepted or ignored the monitor’s recommendations, the audit found.

    Denver’s ordinances require the Office of Independent Monitor to publicly report on disciplinary investigations and policy changes in its annual report, but also limit the office’s ability to do so because the materials are subject to deliberative process privilege, which allows information to be kept from the public if disclosing it would prevent honest and frank discussion within government.

    “We found legal guidance from the City Attorney’s Office is affecting what the Monitor’s Office publicly reports in terms of its oversight of the Police and Sheriff Departments,” the audit states. “A significant portion of what city ordinance tells the Monitor’s Office to publicly report is protected by the deliberative process privilege — according to the City Attorney’s Office’s interpretation.”

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  • Denver police shoot, kill man in southeast Denver while responding to domestic violence call

    A person is dead after a police shooting in the Goldsmith neighborhood in southeast Denver at 4:20 a.m., said Ron Thomas, chief of police for the Denver Police Department.

    Elliott Wenzler

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  • Colorado Springs police fatally shoot suicidal man

    Colorado Springs police fatally shoot suicidal man

    Colorado Springs officers fatally shot a suicidal man allegedly wielding a knife early Tuesday morning, police said.

    Around midnight Tuesday, officers responded to reports of a suicidal man causing a disturbance with his roommates in the 5100 block of Prairie Grass Lane, according to a 4:32 a.m. statement from the Colorado Springs Police Department.

    When officers contacted the man — who has not been identified by police — he allegedly approached them “aggressively” with the knife and one officer shot him, police said in the statement.

    Paramedics took the man to a hospital where he died from his injuries, police said.

    Lauren Penington

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