Re: Aurora LEO shoots, kills armed resident who shot intruder

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A Colorado police officer will not face charges for fatally shooting a homeowner who had just killed an intruder inside his suburban Denver home, prosecutors said in a letter released Monday. Adams County District Attorney Dave Young described Richard “Gary” Black’s death as a “harrowing tragedy” but said his role was to determine whether the Aurora Police officer who shot the 73-year-old Vietnam War veteran was justified in using deadly force. Based on witness interviews and more than 90 videos captured by officers’ body cameras, Young said Officer Drew Limbaugh did not know who Black was and fired when the homeowner refused police commands to drop his handgun.

Young said Limbaugh’s belief was reasonable and prosecutors cannot prove that the officer was not justified in firing. He said there also is no evidence that Limbaugh was reckless or criminally negligent. “Officer Limbaugh engaged in conduct that was consciously focused on minimizing the risk to public safety,” Young wrote. At the time of the shooting, Young said police did not know that Black had woken after midnight to investigate banging sounds and soon heard his 11-year-old grandson screaming as an intruder attacked him inside the bathroom. Police also did not know that the intruder, later identified as Dajon Harper, was lying on the bathroom floor after being shot twice by Black, he said.

“The evaluation of Officer Limbaugh’s reasonable belief must be based not upon what we now know, but the circumstances as he perceived them at the time: hearing gunshots and then seeing an armed man emerge from a back room who refused commands to drop the weapon,” Young wrote. The witnesses and police officers interviewed by investigators paint a chaotic scene. Young said police arriving at the home in Aurora around 1:30 a.m. on July 30 had little information and no description of a suspect. Within seconds, he said police heard gunshots inside the house and saw Black come into the hallway holding a handgun in one hand and a flashlight in the other. Young said the body camera footage shows police repeatedly told Black to drop his weapon before he came toward officers, raising the flashlight, and Limbaugh fired three times.

Police have said Black had hearing impairment due to his military service. Young wrote that Black may not have heard the commands or recognized the officers as police but said that does not change Limbaugh’s “reasonable belief that Mr. Black presented a threat.” Witnesses told police that Harper was at a party at a family member’s home nearby and may have been using drugs. Early that morning, he ran away and apparently broke down the Black family’s front door. Black’s grandson told police he woke up after feeling a cold breeze. He described walking toward his father’s bedroom but then seeing a stranger showering as he passed the open bathroom door.

The boy said the man grabbed him, locked the bathroom door and was strangling him before his father and grandfather were able to get inside the room. Harper, who was 26, died after being shot twice in the chest by Black. An autopsy report found levels of marijuana and methamphetamine in his blood.
https://apnews.com/9986c60282964d0090ca3618dcf997b4

As predicted, not surprising.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Aurora LEO shoots, kills armed resident who shot intruder

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The Black Family lawyer's response.
“The District Attorney’s report selectively emphasizes certain facts in order to justify its conclusion,” the statement by the Rathod Mohamedbhai firm said. “But the report minimizes what is clear from the body camera footage: the officers who responded to the Black residence never identified themselves as law enforcement to Mr. Black prior to shooting him dead.” The body camera footage was released Monday night. Black family had asked that it be made public.
Limbaugh, the officer who shot Black, had returned to duty two weeks earlier after killing a man on June 27 in an officer-involved shooting. Some questioned whether Limbaugh returned to duty too soon, but Metz defended his department’s decision to send the officer back on patrol.
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/12/03/n ... ary-black/
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Aurora LEO shoots, kills armed resident who shot intruder

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Bisbee wrote: Tue Jul 31, 2018 4:02 pm That is truly messed up!

Jeebus! What are we to learn from this? Put down our gun after a shooting and make sure we are unarmed when the police show up? Maybe don't call the police at all? Really, what?!?
I’m a bit confused. Who called the cops and how did they show up right after the shooting? Good advice on being unarmed when the police show up provided you have the time to secure your weapon off your body or in a holster.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: Aurora LEO shoots, kills armed resident who shot intruder

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sikacz wrote: Fri Dec 07, 2018 7:14 am
Bisbee wrote: Tue Jul 31, 2018 4:02 pm That is truly messed up!

Jeebus! What are we to learn from this? Put down our gun after a shooting and make sure we are unarmed when the police show up? Maybe don't call the police at all? Really, what?!?
I’m a bit confused. Who called the cops and how did they show up right after the shooting? Good advice on being unarmed when the police show up provided you have the time to secure your weapon off your body or in a holster.
Richard Black's (victim) wife called 911 and she was on the phone with 911 when police arrived. She was standing out front but the cops never stopped to ask her about the situation. Don't know what info dispatch relayed to the cops on scene.
BKinzey wrote: Sat Dec 08, 2018 10:20 am Police need more training.

they need to be taught what brandishing is, and is not. If they are given the advantage of drawing and pointing their firearms at people then they must have a greater responsibility to determine what is, and is not, a threat. The mere presence of a firearm cannot be the sole determination of a threat.
I totally agree, it's a training issue. They seem to be taught a lot about making "split second decisions", but not every situation calls for that. I'm interested in seeing how the ballot referendum that passed in WA changes police shootings in that state. That and training in handling chaotic situations. The shooting of Bradford in the AL Galleria Mall, the shooting of Black in CO and yesterday it was revealed that the cop who was shot in the bar shooting in Thousand Oaks, CA (11 killed) was killed by friendly fire. The bullet that delivered the fatal shot to the Ventura Co Sheriff's sergeant was from the CHP officers rifle.
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/07/67473519 ... ting-scene
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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