DENVER — As the investigation continues into a police shooting in early August in downtown Denver, the police department released new footage that showed police arresting the injured man as an unrelated gunfight broke out in the same parking lot.
In a press conference on Friday morning, the Denver Police Department (DPD) explained how the shooting unfolded in the early hours of Aug. 3.
DPD Commander Matt Clark said uniformed officers were doing routine patrols around 2 a.m. and had just finished addressing a fight around 20th Street and Blake Street when they heard a gunshot. Multiple officers responded to Market Street, where they believed it had come from. A passerby alerted an officer that a man in a white Audi had a firearm in his possession, and officers quickly found the man adjacent to the driver's door of the car near 19th and Market streets, Clark said.
As officers approached the man — who has only been identified as a 24-year-old since he has not been charged as of Friday — they told him to show his hands. The man raised his arms and police saw he was holding the lower grip area of a firearm in his right hand, with the gun's muzzle pointed at the ground, Clark said.
Once police saw the gun, they ordered him to put it down.
Clark said the man then turned the firearm so the barrel was parallel to the ground, and moved it so the barrel was pointed at an officer. One of the responding officers, fearing the man would shoot at police, opened fire once, Clark said. The man, who was struck by the gunfire, dropped the gun. He had been shot in the right arm.
As police arrested the man, multiple gunshots fired nearby.
The man repeated "Sorry, sorry" and "I'm not a criminal" as police began medical treatment, which included a tourniquet, and he was transported to a hospital for treatment. He has since been released, Clark said.
The below body-worn camera footage released by DPD shows officers walking up to the car and providing medical help to the man following the shooting.
Based on the subsequent investigation, officers learned that the gunshots heard in the same parking lot was an unrelated gunfight between at least two people. Clark explained that while the two shootings happened in the same parking lot at the same time, they were not connected, and police were not involved in the second shooting. They do not believe the 24-year-old in the first shooting was involved in the second one in any way.
A driver from the second shooting fled from the scene and crashed into a parked car near Lawrence Street and Broadway, prompting officers to respond. They found two injured people there — one with a gunshot wound to the abdomen and another with an injury related to the crash, Clark said. Both are expected to survive their injuries.
The second shooting is an ongoing investigation and no charges have been filed as investigators work to determine how the suspects' were involved and what charges may apply.
At the scene of the initial shooting, police recovered one semi-automatic handgun with a magazine containing 10 rounds of ammunition. The subsequent investigation found that a single officer had fired once.
That officer, who was not identified, has been with the police department since 2017 and is assigned to district 6 on the anti-crime team, Clark said. He is on a modified duty status as he completes the department's reintegration program.
Denver police are investigating the possession and storage of the man's firearm from the initial shooting to determine if charges are appropriate.
A second officer's body-worn camera footage, seen below, was released by DPD on Friday as well.
The police shooting is under investigation by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Colorado State Patrol, DPD's Homicide Unit and the Denver District Attorney's Office.
Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas explained that this area of downtown was identified as one of the city's “persistently violent hotspots,” but the department has recorded a significant reduction in violence there after it began mitigation work.
Officers patrol in their cars and on foot, walk through the crowds and parking lots, and stand on street corners to remain visible in the evening hours, especially when bars and entertainment establishments close for the night, Thomas said. Police work to disperse the crowds quickly to reduce the likelihood of violence.
Watch the full press conference with the Denver Police Department below.
"I worry about my officers every day," he said. "I commend them for coming to work every day and working in that tough environment like that. It just goes to show that one, they’re resilient and two, they’re dedicated to their profession.”
He explained that the number of firearms around the Denver metro area is an ongoing issue.
“The tremendous number of guns in the metro area is a significant challenge, one that we deal with every day," he said. "We have recovered a significant number of guns. I think we were setting record totals for a number of years in a row. Thankfully this year, I think we’re seeing a slight reduction. I think that is due to some recent legislation as well as a lot of our efforts to try to get people to be much more responsible with their weapons.”
No other details on the two shootings were immediately available on Friday.
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