A man accused of shooting and killing an Aurora detective last month admitted it to an officer who responded to the incident, according to court documents.
The officer, Scott Osgood, then asked Brian Washington what he said, and Washington replied: “I shot him,” the arrest warrant said.
“It’s OK, I’m federal, I’m with the nation,” Washington said, according to the warrant.
The documents were released Tuesday from Adams County District Court in the shooting death of Detective Mike Thomas, 52.
Washington, who has been charged with first-degree murder, is accused of killing the officer at noon on Sept. 20, at the intersection of East Montview Boulevard and Peoria Street.
Thomas, in civilian clothes, was driving his personal vehicle from one training session to another.
According to the records, Washington asked Osgood if the man who had been shot was all right. That’s when, the arrest warrant said, Washington admitted to killing Thomas.
At that point, Osgood told Washington that he was taking him to jail, the documents said, and Washington pulled a gun from his right front pants pocket.
As the gun barrel cleared the pocket, Osgood lunged at Washington, knocking him to the ground.
The two fought, and Washington, 27, got on top of Osgood and hit him several times in the face.
Osgood and other witnesses were able to subdue Washington.
Washington’s mother, Patricia Tripp, told investigators that her son had moved into her home on the 3300 block of Potomac Street in Denver after his wife died in April.
Tripp said Washington did not have mental problems and had never been on prescription drugs for mental issues.
She said he drank an occasional beer and once in a while smoked a little marijuana.
For the past few months, Tripp said, her son “became different,” and started talking about the Koran, “about how he was God” and that he wanted to go to Iran and become Muslim and be the president.”
It was not clear whether Washington’s statement that “I’m with the nation” was in reference to the Nation of Islam.
But activist Alvertis Simmons, who works with the Denver area Nation of Islam, said he spoke to Muslim minister Gerald Muhammad after the shooting and that neither knew Washington.
“We don’t know that man. (Nation of Islam leader Louis) Mr. Farrakhan doesn’t know that man. We do not know that brother,” Simmons said. “We are upset he killed that cop. From what we heard, he was a good police officer.”
Police do not believe that Washington knew Thomas was a law enforcement officer.
Police have said that the shooting may have been random.
Washington is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 7. Police are still asking that anyone with information about the shooting call Detective R.J. Wilson at 303-739-6106.
Those wishing to help the Thomas family can do so by donating to the Mike Thomas Memorial Fund at the Rocky Mountain Law Enforcement Federal Credit Union.
Staff writer Carlos Illescas can be reached at 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com.
