A man was shot and fatally wounded by a Denver police officer early today near the state Capitol.
Police identified the dead man as 31-year-old Harrison Owens and described him as a robbery suspect who pulled a gun on the patrol officer who shot him.
But family members who went to the shooting scene described Owens as a peaceful father of three who wasn’t armed.
Authorities said the shooting happened in the 1400 block of Logan Street, a block east of the Capitol grounds, around 1:30 a.m. today.
According to a police account, a robbery victim flagged down an officer and pointed toward Owens, yelling, “He’s got a gun. He’s got a gun.”
Owens then turned around and pulled a gun, police said. The officer fired one shot.
Owens was transported to Denver Health Medical Center, where he died at 2:10 a.m.
The officer, whose name was not released, was not hurt in the incident.
After the incident, Owens’ mother, Dee Dixon, visited the spot where her son was shot.
Dixon broke down in the arms of her family when she arrived at the scene. She said her son was a good man and a father of three who didn’t deserve to die.
“He was a loving person and there was nothing that he wouldn’t do for anybody,” Dixon said of Owens. “He wouldn’t take nothing from nobody. He was just a good boy. But they took my baby and this is where he laid. This is it. They shot him like an animal.”
Dixon says her son did not own a gun.
Officials have not said if the robbery victim was injured or if that person knew Owens.
Police are investigating the shooting. It was not immediately known if the officer involved was relieved of usual duties.
