AURORA, Colo. — An Arapahoe County jury acquitted a former Aurora officer on one charge in an on-duty shooting that left a man with serious injuries.
Douglas Harroun was found not guilty on one count of first-degree assault, and the jury was hung on a charge of second-degree assault. The District Attorney's Office said they will retry the case on the second count in January.
Harroun was charged last June with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon related to the Dec. 31, 2022 shooting in the 1200 block of North Chambers Road in Aurora. Both charges were felonies. The victim of the shooting, Duvan Jamir Fernandez Zuluaga, was shot in his right ankle.
Harroun's trial began on Nov. 5 and closing arguments in the case were Friday.
He and another officer both responded to the home after a woman called police claiming her significant other was intoxicated and had pushed her and smashed her phone, according to an arrest affidavit. She told dispatchers she was not injured and that no weapons were involved.
When Harroun and the other officer arrived, they learned the man involved in the initial dispute was in the basement. Zuluaga and several others were also there.
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Both officers descended the stairs with their weapons drawn and ordered everyone to show their hands, the affidavit says.
The suspect, who was on a couch, put his hands up, and the other men in the room moved out of the way and put their hands above their heads. At that time, Harroun and the other officer holstered their weapons and Harroun moved to take the suspect into custody, according to the affidavit.
Zuluaga lived at the home but was not involved in the dispute.
It appeared, according to body-worn camera video, that Zuluaga walked toward the stairs in a "non-aggressive" manner after the suspect was placed in handcuffs. According to the affidavit, he took two additional steps toward the stairs as the "get back" commands were issued and Harroun fired his gun.
Harroun was also charged with multiple counts related to the assault of a disabled woman on Jan. 11, 2023, while he was off duty. In October, he pleaded guilty to a single count of reckless endangerment, in that case. He was sentenced to two years of probation.