Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey announced Tuesday that a Denver officer was justified when he shot a hammer-wielding man in a Kmart parking lot Dec. 4.
Officer Sean Cronin was doing paperwork and eating his lunch in his squad car when James Bo-Rain Bradley walked quickly toward the vehicle and shattered the driver- side window with a hammer, according to police reports.
“I immediately went to my gun . . . as the (assailant’s) hammer got to the window, I was in fear for my life,” Cronin told investigators. “I fired my gun. I don’t know how many times I fired it.”
Police later found in Bradley’s vehicle what appeared to be a last will and testament that divided up his possessions, according to a search warrant affidavit. Bradley faces felony charges related to the assault on Cronin.
“Officer Cronin was in a vulnerable position, trapped in his vehicle at this moment,” Morrissey wrote in a letter released Tuesday. “He justifiably defended himself.”
Morrissey’s decision clears Cronin of criminal wrongdoing, but he still faces many layers of internal investigation and civilian-level review. Jessica Fender, The Denver Post
