Prosecutors will not file criminal charges against an Aurora police officer for his June 28 shooting of a 41-year-old man at Montview Boulevard who was armed with a semi-automatic handgun.
“Applying the facts of this incident to the applicable law, the evidence does not support the filing of any criminal charges,” 17th Judicial District Attorney Dave Young said in a Wednesday letter to Aurora Police Chief Nicholas Metz.
In the letter, Young said five Aurora police officers responded to a 911 call about a man with a gun who appeared under the influence of alcohol on the north side of East Montview Boulevard. The man did not comply with orders from the officers to drop his weapon, Young said.
Instead, the man, later identified as Bennie Jones, 41, began walking, while still armed with the gun, toward a bar located in the 9600 block of East Montview, according to the letter.
The letter states that Officer Josh Stuteville shot three rounds from a shotgun, hitting Jones in the torso and right arm. Jones, who survived the incident, then ran from the officers and tossed his gun into a bush. Officers apprehended him after a short chase, the prosecutor determined.
“Officer Stuteville stated that although the suspect never pointed his gun at him, other officers or citizens, he feared the suspect would turn and fire at him and other officers,” the letter from Young states.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747, cosher@denverpost.com or
