AURORA, Colo — No charges will be filed against six officers involved in the deadly shooting of a suspect in June that followed a kidnapping and carjacking, according to a decision letter from the the 17th Judicial District Attorney's Office.
Officers from the Aurora and Denver police departments were involved in the shooting on June 22 near Abilene Street and East 35th Place in northern Aurora.
At about 11 a.m. that morning, Denver Police Department (DPD) responded to a carjacking that took place in the area of 48th Avenue and Chambers Road, according to Aurora Police spokesperson Crystal McCoy.
According to the DA's decision letter, the suspect, later identified as 22-year-old David Guillen, and his girlfriend went to Chambers Liquors in Denver and lured the store employee out with a ruse. The woman, who was not named in the letter, went into the store and told the clerk, identified as G.K. in the letter, that she had dropped a ring under his vehicle, the letter says.
They both went outside so that G.K. could move the vehicle in order to locate her ring, the letter says. When G.K. moved his vehicle, Guillen entered the vehicle from the passenger side and threatened G.K. with a gun, according to the letter.
Guillen told the G.K., "If you want to live, you are going to drive," and ordered him to follow his girlfriend, who had gotten into another vehicle, the letter says.
A fellow employee called 911 to report the kidnapping and DPD officers responded to look for the worker's vehicle. Officer Dana Gerlach located G.K's vehicle and deployed a Starchase dart, which is a GPS tracking device, the letter says.
According to the letter, G.K. said in the Green Valley Ranch area he heard something hit the vehicle and noticed cop cars behind them. Guillen "ordered" G.K. to elude police and, according to the letter, said, "I don't care if it's red lights or not, if you stop you die."
G.K. followed the instructions while "Guillen jammed his handgun into his right side," the letter says, but he eventually stopped near Abilene Street and East 35th Place, which is a warehouse district in Aurora.
G.K said he observed several officers nearby and said Guillen ordered him to empty his pockets, the letter says. He did so, and when he saw Guillen looked over his shoulder, he took the opportunity to run, according to the letter.
Officer Gerlach saw G.K. running and observed Guillen pointing a gun at people in the area, the letter says.
She gave commands for Guillen to drop the gun, according to the letter. Denver Det. Brent Curtis, Officer Javier Reyes, Officer Carlos Jacobo and Det. Randy Wagner arrived and also began giving commands to Guillen, the letter says.
According to body camera footage, Jacobo ordered Guillen to drop his weapon at least 13 times. Gerlach gave the command 27 times.
Aurora Officer James Queisner also arrived to provide backup. According to the letter, officers followed Guillen for more than seven minutes as he "continued to threaten officers and citizens in the area with his handgun."
Eventually, Queisner made the decision to drive his vehicle into Guillen in order to disarm him, the letter days. He struck him at a "very low" speed, the letter says, and as he was hit he fired one shot. He then fell to the ground and dropped his weapon, the letter says.
Even though, he "appeared injured," he was "not surrendering," the letter says, and then picked up his gun and pointed it directly at Reyes, who fired at Guillen.
As the gunfire began, the letter says, Guillen propped himself up on his elbow and pointed his gun at officers.
Five other officers also fired, and the coroner determined that Guillen was struck 23 times.
Following a review, the DA declined to press charges, saying in part that the deadly force was justifiable because...evidence supports the reasonable conclusion that the officers were in "imminent danger." The body camera footage also corroborated the officers' reports that Guillen refused to command and "menaced" citizens, the letter says.
Deadly force is also allowed if the suspect is committing crimes such as kidnapping or aggravated robbery and, in this case, the DA said, "the evidence is very clear" that Guillen kidnapped and robbed G.K.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Local stories from 9NEWS
