DENVER — A man who was yelling and chasing people with a rifle before he was shot by police in Commons Park near downtown Denver last week had more than 400 rounds of ammunition with him when he was killed, the Denver Police Department (DPD) said Wednesday.
Police held a news conference to give updates on two separate cases – the Nov. 20 shooting, and an in-custody death on Nov. 15.
“There’s evidence to suggest that had the officers not taken the actions that they took, that there could have been an even greater tragedy, given some of the things that we’ve discovered in our investigation," Police Chief Ron Thomas said about the shooting.
DPD Major Crimes Division Commander Matt Clark said around 3:40 p.m. Nov. 20, police got multiple 911 calls about a man with a rifle yelling at and chasing people in the Commons Park area. Police said the man was armed but was not pointing the gun at anyone.
Officers were dispatched within a minute of the first 911 call and arrived at the park four minutes later, Clark said.
When officers arrived, Clark said, they found the man sitting on a bench on the west side of the park. Because they knew the man had a gun, the officers did not immediately approach him but positioned their cars away from him – one on the west side of a hill in the center of the park and one on a path south of the man.
Police said the man directed his attention to the officer on the hill, and while still seated on the park bench, raised his rifle and fired at the officer. The officers commanded the man to drop his rifle, but he did not and fired multiple rounds at the officer on the hill, Clark said.
Both officers then shot at the man, hitting him with several rounds. He dropped his rifle, and officers approached to render aid, police said. The man was declared deceased on the scene. He was later identified as Joshua Mitchell, 42.
Clark said the two officers fired a total of seven shots. Police found evidence that the man fired at least five rounds at the officer on the hill.
> Watch the two officers' body-worn camera video below. CONTENT WARNING: This video includes gunshots being fired. 9NEWS has stopped the video before the officers approach the man.
Clark said investigators recovered an AK-47 rifle from in front of the man. The magazine contained 33 rounds, and one round was in the chamber, Clark said.
Clark said the man was wearing a tactical vest cover that contained eight more loaded magazines. Police also found five loaded magazines in a bag next to him.
In total, Clark said, the man had 14 magazines for the rifle with more than 400 rounds of ammunition.
Police said they're working to determine how the man got the rifle. They said it had not been reported stolen.
> Watch the full news conference below:
No one except the man was injured by the shots. Police said the gunfire damaged multiple windows and two units in a nearby apartment building. The apartments were occupied at the time. The occupants were not injured, Clark said.
Police said that earlier in the day, the man had gone to a home in northwest Denver where he sometimes stays. Someone at the home believed he was intoxicated and told him to leave, Clark said. The man drove away and around 2:40 p.m., hit an occupied car and a parked car in the area of 37th Avenue and Federal Boulevard.
Around 2:50 p.m., Clark said, the man was captured on video walking away from the car, which was broken down in the area of 33rd Avenue and Clay Street. Clark said he was "likely holding the rifle under a blanket."
Police searched the car and found another 50 rounds of ammunition, Clark said.
Clark said it's unclear at this point why the man went to the park. He said investigators searched the man's car and the home he sometimes stays at. They're still looking into his cellphone and social media.
“Nothing that we have is currently specific indicating what his motivation would be or what his specific background or ideology would be," Clark said.
The officers did not hear the man say anything before the shots were fired, Clark said.
“There’s nothing indicating that there was a larger plan associated with this," he said.
Clark said one of the officers who fired shots has been with the department since 2016 and was also involved in a shooting in 2019. The other officer has been with the department since 2019, Clark said. Both are on modified duty status.
Police are asking anyone who saw the events leading up to the shooting and has not yet spoken to officers to contact them.
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