Looks like the armed resident was shot by responding LEO...

[Ramsker]

Really need to see the bodycam footage on this one. After the press conference details it still sounds to me like one cop was jumpy. Seems like you have to give a 70+ year old guy a little more benefit of the doubt in a highly stressful situation like that and not blast him for pointing a flashlight, even if he's not dropping the gun. Probably a fair guess that he (A) doesn't hear well, and/or (B) might be highly confused due to the situation and age, and/or (C) doesn't fit the average mold of a home invader or party goer.

Maybe that's Monday morning quarterbacking . . . but it just doesn't seem like a good shoot to me from the information so far. What a crappy ending for a guy who by all accounts led a decent life and just saved a family member from a waste of oxygen a few minutes earlier.

[TFOGGER]

Every new piece of information I see makes me mentally add another zero to the check that Aurora is gonna end up writing...

[Bailey Guns]

SMDH at some of you guys.

[KevDen2005]

SMDH at some of you guys.

If you think that's bad you should read the comments on the press release video.

[vossman]

SMDH at some of you guys.

What is SMDH?

[Skip]

Metz said he's not releasing bodycam at the family's request but that he is otherwise "supportive" of releasing it. Says some of it isn't clear. Also says the Black family has seen it.

Full conference from yesterday...




Multiple 911 calls before shots fired about out of control BG on a rampage.

Confusion on home invasion 911 call. Caller asked about weapons and said "no" so responding LEOs may misidentified GG. Dispatch knew someone was hurt in the house but didn't know it was BG. Mrs. Black says "he has a gun" to LEOs as they are walking up doesn't sound like they understood who had the gun. LEOs heard Mr. Black's shots 33 seconds after arrival. Officers give commands for 13 seconds to Mr. Black to drop gun and show hands, he does not comply.

Four rounds fired at Black from outside front door.

Shitshow of miscommunication/lack of communication.

PSA: Talk to your family about how to calmly relate accurate facts to LE.

[Singlestack]

The video of the press release is disturbing to me. The Chief is describing the bodycam footage he has reviewed. In a very critical part of the video, he states "...one of the officers yells "Gun! Gun!". For the next 13 seconds...", then the video goes silent for about 10 seconds and shows a static photo of a building (city hall?). Then the police chief is shown again saying "...we don't know, but for whatever reason Mr. Black did not drop the gun. About 10 seconds later during all these commands, Mr. Black walks around the room walking toward the officers, again with the gun in one hand and the flashlight in the other. He begins to raise the flashlight toward the officer, he still has the gun in his hand, and it is at that time that my officer fired 4 rounds..."

I find the pause (at marker -36.09) in the video by Denver7 news to be disturbing for several reasons, with two interpretations:
1. There is no removed footage, and what the Chief says just before the pause is IMMEDIATELY followed by what the chief says after the pause.
This means the police chief maintains that an officer yelling "Gun! Gun!" IS a command to Mr. Black to drop the gun. I believe most reasonable people would strongly disagree with that remark, and instead believe is was intended to alert other officers nearby that a person in the house had a gun. This pots the police chief and aurora PD in a very bad light.

2. There is removed footage, and the chief is describing in the missing 10 seconds that the officers directed different commands to Mr. Black to drop the handgun. This would seem to square with the chief's statements after the pause, and would seem to suggest that Denver7 may have an ulterior motive to represent Aurora PD in a very bad light. I have no idea if this is true, or not, but the media has many times over the years found to have modified/doctored audio and/or video to change the story for their own purposes.

I have no idea what Mr. Black did or didn't hear, what commands were said or not said, but I find the Denver7 video to be of concern.

[Singlestack]

Thanks to the video just posted by Skip, we can see what Denver7 did: they deliberately left out some video to make the police look bad.

Just after the chief says "For the next 13 seconds...", he actually says "...officers continued to give at least 5 commands to Mr. Black to drop the gun and to show his hands". Then he says "We don't know why, but for whatever reason..." which is where the Denver7 video picked up after the pause.

Could the pause have been accidental? To me, extremely unlikely given "news" people record all the time and would know when to stop recording. Because of the critical break and what is said immediately before and after, I see no other plausible explanation other than a political and anti-police agenda. I'm not commenting on the incident itself and any blame or culpability Aurora PD may have. However, I am saying that I believe Denver7 is fake news and is not to be trusted.

[fitz19d]

And yet they want to cry when people start to think they are the enemy of the people.

[Skip]

[snip]

I am saying that I believe Denver7 is fake news and is not to be trusted.

Selective editing/reporting is the oldest trick in the book and it isn't just 7 that does it. Sometimes agenda, sometimes to get interest on a story.

I'm not sure the shooting of Mr. Black is a "good shoot" for APD. To engage him outside the door limits LEOs ability to assess the situation, but, there are things Metz said in the conference that explain the situation and create context. I do not believe the LEOs acted with malice or were necessarily reckless. Given the miscommunication I think there was widespread confusion and then they heard the shots from within the house. They had seconds to fill the gaps, had a noncompliant man with a gun (probably in shock and struggling to deal with what happened himself), and fired.

Situation really sucks.

Only good come out of this is Mr. Black's public service in taking the BG out.


ETA: More good... Public awareness that a naked tweaker-shitstain could break into your house at 1:30AM to murder your children and you might just need a firearm in spite of your politics.