A man fatally shot in a no-knock raid last week had sold crack to an undercover officer days before SWAT officers entered his apartment, according to court documents.
Nathan Aguillard, 26, was shot to death Friday when Denver SWAT officers executed a warrant at his apartment at 4754 Peoria St. and he confronted them with a gun, police said.
Police found three handguns, a baggie with white powder believed to be drugs, numerous boxes of ammunition, drug paraphernalia and money — including a $50 counterfeit bill, according to Sonny Jackson, Denver police spokesman, and court documents unsealed today.
Based on his review of Friday’s shooting, Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman said SWAT officers Ronald Fox and Thomas McKibben, who shot Aguillard, acted appropriately, given the circumstances.
“The officers were in a highly volatile situation and reacted to the actions of the suspect in accordance to their training,” Whitman said Wednesday. “I support the actions of my officers in this situation, and the facts of the case will be revealed at the completion of this investigation.”
Family members of Aguillard hired Denver attorney Craig Skinner to review police actions in the shooting because they said the schizophrenic man was not a drug dealer, didn’t own a gun and was too paranoid about other people to sell drugs.
When told today about the items found in her brother’s home, including the guns and ammunition, Nina Aguillard said her attorney asked her not to comment.
Skinner said it surprised him that police opted to arrest Aguillard, who had a mental disability, in the way they did.
“They chose what seems to be the most confrontational approach to arrest him,” he said.
Days earlier, one officer posing as a drug client had knocked on Aguillard’s door and had face-to-face contact with him, Skinner said. It seems a similar approach would have been safer for everyone involved, he said.
“This is a tragic situation, but none of the facts support the allegations of the family,” Whitman said.
The search-warrant affidavit, which was unsealed today, indicates that in the weeks leading up to the raid, several of Aguillard’s neighbors told police they believed he was selling drugs out of his apartment. Surveillance officers saw four men knock on his door and quickly leave without entering the house, according to the affidavit.
During an undercover sting, a police officer went to Aguillard’s apartment. Aguillard asked him if he was “cool” — a way of asking him if he was a cop, police say. The officer said he was cool and asked for a “forty,” and Aguillard gave him $40 worth of crack.
A prostitution suspect also told police she bought crack from Aguillard, whom she knew as “Puerto Rico.”
Police sought the no-knock warrant, in part, because they knew he had a gun, and drug dealers had previously shot at officers during arrests.
On March 20, police stopped Aguillard for suspicious activities near 12500 E. Albrook Drive. Police found a loaded .25-caliber semi-automatic handgun in the glove box of his black 1992 Jaguar, the document said.
A complete list of items seized from Aguillard’s home was not immediately available, Jackson said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
