The Aurora Police Department’s new chief on Monday said the man fatally shot by police last week was carrying an airsoft gun that looked like an AR-15 rifle, alleging the man was there “to intimidate, to terrorize and to threaten” the community.
The man’s sister-in-law, Kelly Davis, said Chief Todd Chamberlain’s decision to make declarative statements about her brother-in-law Kory Dillard‘s intentions during the incident without releasing video footage of the shooting is “very telling.”
“To make that kind of statement with no body-worn camera footage is insane,” she told The Denver Post.
Aurora police officers responded to multiple calls about a fight in a parking lot in the 11900 block of East 16th Avenue and a man with a rifle at approximately 2 p.m. Thursday, Chamberlain said at a news conference Monday afternoon.
Witnesses reported the man tried to take another man’s car, which started the fight, and later walked across the street to a van parked near an apartment complex and retrieved what appeared to be a rifle.
He then started “brandishing it in a very hostile and threatening manner,” Chamberlain said.
Two Aurora police officers arrived at the scene and told the man to drop the weapon, which he raised toward the officers, Chamberlain said.
One officer fired two rounds, hitting the man.
Police arrested him and provided medical treatment, but he later died at the hospital.
The man also allegedly threatened to kill a woman who was passing by with a shopping cart, Chamberlain said.
The Adams County Coroner’s Office has not released the man’s identity, but family members identified him as Dillard.
Chamberlain described the officers’ actions as “the least amount of force necessary” to control the situation and speculated about what may have happened if the man had “made a different decision” like dropping the weapon and putting up his hands.
“I’m sure (the officers) wish they had another alternative. I’m sure they wish that this suspect had made another decision,” he said.
At an initial briefing Thursday, Chamberlain described the shooting by saying “gunfire was exchanged by the officers towards the individual.” Police officials later clarified there was not an exchange of gunfire and investigators do not believe the man fired any shots from the airsoft rifle.
“Kory is an amazing person and it’s hard for us to wrap our minds around the fact that this happened for a number of reasons,” Davis said.
In a statement, Dillard’s family described the airsoft gun as a toy.
“Kory was a free citizen, minding his business with a toy, and he was not under arrest when this occurred,” the family said.
Chamberlain on Monday said he didn’t know whether the airsoft gun — a pellet gun — could be considered a toy, adding it looked exactly the same as an AR-15 rifle.
Aurora police have not released body-worn camera footage of the shooting and still need to review it with the man’s family, Chamberlain said Monday. The family has called for the immediate release of the full, unedited footage.
Dillard’s family made multiple calls to the Aurora Police Department on Monday but had not heard back as of Monday night, Davis said.
Dillard was an intelligent, outgoing and outspoken person who was beloved by his family, including his son and nephew, Davis said.
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