WESTMINSTER, Colo. — An Adams County deputy has been found justified in firing a single shot at a fugitive who investigators said was threatening to kill his girlfriend during a standoff outside an apartment complex in Westminster.
The suspect, identified later as 46-year-old Anthony Pena, died during the Nov. 1 incident near 84th Avenue and Fox Street. It happened while members of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force and Adams County Sheriff’s Office Special Crime Attack Team (SCAT) were trying to take him into custody, according to a decision letter released Friday by the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Pena was wanted for allegedly flashing a gun at officers and speeding away during a traffic stop a few weeks prior, the letter says, and was considered armed and dangerous.
>>> Watch the video above for the original 9NEWS report on the incident.
Just before the shooting, the letter said Deputy Adam Kingsley spotted Pena driving his Pontiac Firebird with his girlfriend in the passenger seat, and followed him into a Westminster apartment complex.
Kingsley, who was driving an unmarked Ford F-150 time at the time, pulled in behind Pena’s Firebird and attempted to immobilize him, the letter says.
“As Mr. Pena started to get out of the car, another deputy on the SCAT deployed a flash bang device intended to distract Mr. Pena so officers could safely arrest him,” the letter says.“ The Firebird drove into reverse, pushing the Ford F-150.
“Deputy Kingsley pinned the Firebird against a retaining wall as other deputies surrounded the vehicle at gunpoint.”
The letter says that Pena, whose girlfriend stayed in the vehicle, “held a handgun out of the driver’s side window and threatened to kill her.”
“’Deputy Kingsley believed he heard Mr. Pena yell ‘I’m gonna shoot her,’” the letter says. “He also heard a female screaming inside the vehicle.”
The letter says deputies continued to tell Pena to drop the gun, but to no avail. Kingsley, who the letter says was the SCAT team’s designated sniper, changed position so he could see inside the car. The letter says he later saw an apparent scuffle inside the vehicle, and believed Pena and his passenger were fighting over the gun.
“As soon was Deputy Kingsley was certain the woman would not get hit, he fired his rifle one time, aimed at Pena’s head,” the letter says.
The shot was fatal.
During an interview with police, the letter says Pena’s girlfriend denied that he was pointing a gun at her head, and that “Mr. Pena simply hugged her and tried to calm her down.”
The letter says witness interviews and surveillance indicates officers had reason to believe Pena was a danger to his girlfriend.
“Mr. Pena’s action of creating a hostage situation, displaying a handgun to officers, and threatening to kill the hostage justifies the use of deadly physical force,” the letter reads. “Under these circumstances, there is no reason to conclude any lesser use for force was necessary.”
During a November interview with 9NEWS, Pena’s family said he had children.
"He did have a past, but just like we all have pasts," said Laura Bonney, Pena's niece. "Just like all of them are going through stuff, but everybody turns their life around. But just because you have a past doesn’t mean you deserve to be shot dead."
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