AURORA, Colo. — The family of an unarmed Black man who was holding a cellphone when he was shot and killed by Aurora police last month demanded justice for his death Thursday as more details about why the man was sought by police in the first place came to light.
Kilyn Lewis, 37, was being surveilled by both the Aurora and Denver police departments on an outstanding warrant for attempted first-degree murder in connection with a shooting that occurred near E. 48th Ave. and Colorado Blvd. in Denver on May 5.
An arrest affidavit in the case states a man who reported being legally blind said he was walking in the area when he heard gunshots and felt pain but did not see who shot him. Officers who responded to the scene found “several spent cartridge casings” and began reviewing video from nearby businesses in which they saw several people outside a business “that appeared to be involved in an argument,” one of whom was driving a red Chevrolet Monte Carlo – a vehicle which reportedly belonged to Lewis.
Surveillance video showed several vehicles leaving the scene of the argument followed shortly by the red Monte Carlo, according to the affidavit, which states that, “Officers noted that as the Monte Carlo was in the area where the cartridge casings were located earlier, people in the area began to scatter.”
A witness who spoke with police after the incident told investigators that at first “everyone was being cool, but then a black Tahoe arrived and a male from inside showed a gun and demanded people come out of the store to fight,” according to the affidavit.
As people left the store, the affidavit states, people heard gunshots. The witness identified the driver of the red Monte Carlo as “Kilyn Lewis.”
Further investigation into the surveillance video from nearby businesses showed that around 11:30 a.m. on May 5, the red Monte Carlo which was “occupied only by the driver” drove south on Colorado Blvd. and as it got to 48th Ave., “a hand is seen coming across the passenger seat holding what appeared to be a gun,” the affidavit states. “It is at this time that pedestrians began to scatter.”
Police allege in the affidavit that the red Monte Carlo was then seen “accelerating rapidly” out of the view of the cameras.
Later that day, investigators talked to the legally blind man who was injured in the shooting at a hospital where he was being treated for four wounds to his right shoulder and back. The affidavit states the man said he has a very small field of vision and that “even what he can see he sees three of.”
The man alleged he was doing his morning walk that day past several businesses in the area when he heard gunshots and felt pain.
A day later, investigators spoke to another witness in the area where the shooting occurred, who told police that an older man came up to him and told him he had been shot in the shoulder, but the affidavit states that the witness told police they “did not see any blood and believed that the man was not mentally sound.”
Based on this information, police requested an arrest warrant for Lewis on the charges of attempted first-degree murder, the affidavit states.
Unarmed Black man encounters police nearly 3 weeks later
On Thursday, the Aurora Police Department released an edited version of the bodycam footage, where Interim Chief Heather R. Morris detailed how the shooting occurred.
The interim chief said officers from both the Aurora Police Department and the Denver Police Department had been surveilling Lewis for two days before trying to contact him outside an apartment complex on S. Ironton St. near the intersection with E. Alameda Ave. on May 23.
The bodycam video shows members from Aurora’s SWAT team driving up to Lewis, who is near the trunk of the red Monte Carlo, when several officers ambush him and yell at him to get on the ground.
Lewis, who isn’t seen holding anything in his hands, instead walks toward the driver’s side of his vehicle as officers continue to yell at him to obey commands. The video then shows Lewis moving his right-hand out of view of the officers momentarily as he grabs an object.
It’s at this point that one Aurora SWAT officer fires a single shot before Lewis is heard repeatedly yelling at police, “I don’t have nothing!” as he falls to the ground.
Warning: The body camera footage in the video player below could be disturbing to some. Viewer discretion is advised.
That object was later determined to be a cellphone, Morris said Thursday.
Lewis was taken to a hospital where he died two days later.
The Aurora SWAT officer who shot him – identified as Officer Michael Dieck – is a 12-year veteran of the force and has been working for the SWAT team for more than eight years, according to Morris.
He has since been placed on administrative leave per department policy.
“Kilyn did not deserve what happened to him”
Shortly after Aurora police released the edited bodycam footage of the deadly shooting, the Rathod Mohamedbhai law firm, which is representing Lewis’ family, held a news conference in which they condemned “an unarmed Black man’s murder at the hands of the Aurora Police Department.”
In passionate opening remarks, lawyers for the family said news conferences like the one that happened Thursday were “getting a little bit too familiar” and called back to the murder of Elijah McClain in 2019 as an example of how little things have changed.
“Something is failing in the Aurora Police Department. The Aurora Police Department is failing,” one of the lawyers said. “If you could see that video and you believe that the Aurora Police Department deserves a pass, your standards are too low. You need to want better policing in the city of Aurora, because those low standards are getting Black men killed in Aurora.”
After a prayer from former Colorado House Speaker Terrance Carroll, Lewis' family was given a chance to speak.
“Officer Dieck murdered my husband. He took everything from me since he killed Kilyn. And everyone is trying to answer the question: Why did he do it?” asked Andreec Lewis, Kilyn’s widow. “Kilyn did not deserve what happened to him.”
Lewis’ widow, speaking through tears, said she used to think nothing like what happened to her husband would happen to somebody she loves.
“I know better now. Now I know it can happen to someone I love, and my whole life has changed for the worst," Andreec said.
During the news conference, Lewis’ mother, LaRhonda Jones, demanded authorities hold Officer Dieck accountable for his son’s death, and called for an end to police brutality so that Black men like her son, “can walk our streets without fear.”
“We are not statistics, nor mere headlines. We are families scattered and shattered by senseless violence. We are mothers, weeping for our sons. Children growing up fatherless and community suffocating under weight of justice,” Jones said, hoping people would listen to her pleas for justice.
Kilyn’s brother, Kiawa, said the actions of the Aurora officer that day “ripped apart an entire family” as well as countless friendships.
“You have no comprehension of the devastation caused by your hasty, unjustified actions,” he said. “Your crime is not only unjustified, but a symbol of pure evil.”
The 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Critical Incident Response Team (CRIT) is conducting an independent investigation of the shooting. A second, administrative investigation is being led by the Aurora Police Department’s Internal Investigations Bureau to determine whether the officer failed to comply with the department’s policies and training.
Denver7's Jessica Crawford contributed to this report.
