A man shot to death Saturday by Denver police who said he came at them with a knife had been barred from the home last month after he allegedly punched his wife of 25 years in the face.
On April 21, Odiceo Valencia jumped into his wife’s van, yelled that he was going to beat her up and struck her in the face, according to a police report.
Valencia was arrested in that incident, and the case was still pending Saturday when police shot him outside the home he had occupied with his wife, Altagracia Medina, and three children.
Police say Valencia, 45, was shot as he charged officers with a knife. Witnesses’ versions of the incident differ from those of the police.
Carolina Valencia, 16, Valencia’s daughter, said her father dropped the knife after he was shot once, but police continued shooting. A couple who live across the street in Montbello said Valencia dropped the knife after police gave him a jolt from a Taser, then officers shot him multiple times.
The Denver coroner’s office said Monday that Valencia died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen. A toxicology report is pending.
The Police Department’s homicide division is investigating the incident, a standard procedure in shootings involving officers.
The investigation could bolster the officers’ account of the shooting or find that they shouldn’t have shot him.
Even if investigators determine the police followed procedures for deadly force, the review could still result in changes in the way the department does things, said Richard Rosenthal, the city’s independent monitor.
The review will “show if there are any training or tactical issues involved that could need changes in the future,” Rosenthal said.
The police involved in the shooting had been trained in crisis-intervention techniques to enable them to defuse potentially violent situations, said police spokeswoman Sharon Hahn.
Valencia didn’t speak English, and police have not revealed whether any of the four officers on the scene spoke Spanish.
Valencia and Medina, married for 25 years, had separated about four months ago.
In a police report from the April incident, Medina said she was driving home from her job at a Sears warehouse when Valencia drove alongside her on Peoria Street and signaled her to pull over.
He got into her vehicle at a Burger King parking lot at about 2:50 a.m. He struck her on the left side of her face with a closed hand, and she blocked a second blow with her right hand, the report said.
“He then took her keys and fled,” according to the report.
At an arraignment several days later, Valencia pleaded not guilty to petty theft and assault.
He was under a restraining order that barred him from coming near Medina or the home and from possessing or consuming alcohol and from possessing weapons when he arrived at the North Dillon Street residence on Saturday.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
