AURORA, Colo. — The last thing Kilyn Lewis said to his wife was, “I love you.”
Lewis dropped his wife, Anndrec, off the morning of May 23 and left to go visit a friend. An hour and a half later, Anndrec got a call from Lewis’ mother. She said Aurora Police shot Kilyn.
The shooting of Kilyn Lewis, a Black man whose family says was unarmed, has sparked protests in the city of Aurora that interrupted Monday night’s city council meeting. Last week, Aurora Police released a highly edited video of Police Chief Heather Morris explaining the circumstances of the shooting.
In clips of body camera video released by police so far, Lewis, 37, is seen walking from the trunk of his vehicle when two unmarked trucks filled with heavily armed Aurora SWAT officers pull up and rush at Lewis shouting commands. Within seven seconds of leaving their trucks, one of the officers, Michael Dieck, fires one shot at Lewis hitting him in the stomach.
In her first TV interview since the shooting, Anndrec Lewis told 9NEWS that Aurora Police officials who showed the family the video stopped the body cameras before showing the aftermath of the shooting. In the edited video released last week by Aurora Police, Morris explains that officers immediately rendered aid to Lewis.
His family questions that.
“Who picked him up?” Anndrec Lewis asked. “Who touched him? Who did anything.”
>Watch the full interview with Anndrec Lewis below.
“They made a point to make it clear to the family and the attorneys who watched the video earlier this month with the family that we were not going to get to see the aftermath,” her attorney Ed Hopkins said. “We have not yet seen the medical intervention procedures that they attempted. We think with a wound like that, if you have competent medical people there, you can save that man's life.”
Late Friday, Aurora Police disputed this claim. Spokesman Joe Moylan told 9NEWS the family was offered the opportunity to view the aftermath, including lifesaving measures by officers, but declined. He said the law only requires the agency to release video 'depicting the death' of an individual and that any other raw video would be released when it can be under the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act.
A painful video to watch
Lewis said after her husband’s death she couldn’t get a good answer as to why the officer fired his gun.
“It didn't sound right,” she said. “It sounds to me like Kilyn, he didn't have any guns or anything on him. You guys are telling us that the only thing he had in his hand was his phone. So what caused the officer to shoot him?”
So, she hired Hopkins to help look into the case. Hopkins was able to get the department to show clips of the video to the family. Hopkins did warn her the video would be difficult to watch and said parents and spouses should try not to watch.
“Something told me like I need to see it because I need to see what happened myself,” Lewis said. “I want to see his last moments. I want to say I regret seeing it, but in a way, I don't.”
Lewis said in the video, she sees her husband startled but complying with officer’s commands, which at times were confusing. One officer told Kilyn to put his hands up. Another told him to get on the ground.
“He's backing up because he turned around and sees four cops with guns in his face,” Lewis said. “So, of course, naturally, he got a little shook up.”
She said her husband’s last words as he fell to the ground with a gunshot wound haunt her.
“He was like, 'I ain't got nothing. I got nothing. I got nothing,'” she said. “He said it three times. Then, he stopped talking. Even when he was saying that, he still holds his phone and hands up. He still had his hands up until he hit the ground, and he started grabbing for his stomach.”
Lewis died three days later at an Aurora Hospital.
Family calls the shooting "murder"
“He had a full view of Kilyn. Why did you shoot, then?” Lewis asked.
The family has called on the 18th Judicial District Attorney to prosecute Officer Michael Dieck or hand the case to a grand jury to investigate the shooting.
“He needs to be in jail,” Lewis said. “He should have been in jail weeks ago.”
Dieck remains on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
“I did not see a justifiable shooting by a highly experienced, heavily armored, heavily trained SWAT team officer from the Aurora Police Department,” Hopkins said. “I saw the elements of murder in the second degree or manslaughter. That is what would happen if I had done the same thing that Michael Dieck did that day.”
Lewis’ wife plans to continue protests
On Monday, friends and family of Lewis crowded the public comment session at Aurora City Council.
An investigation found the city’s police department engaged in racially-biased policing resulting in a state-mandated consent decree in 2021.
“I want Aurora to feel the burn,” Lewis said. “I want to win this case, with Kilyn’s name across it to be the very last case, because you guys will learn from this, that this is going to stop.”
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Next with Kyle Clark
9NEWS+
9NEWS+ has multiple live daily shows including 9NEWS Mornings, Next with Kyle Clark and The Culture Report, an original streaming program. 9NEWS+ is where you can watch live breaking news, weather updates and press conferences. You can also replay recent newscasts and find videos on demand of our top stories, local politics, investigations and Colorado specific features.
To download 9NEWS+ on Roku search for KUSA.
To download 9NEWS+ on Fire TV search for 9NEWS.