A Mountain View police officer will not face criminal charges for fatally shooting a man , prosecutors announced Monday.
Mitchell Morrissey, Denver’s district attorney, said Officer Andrew Fulton was acting in self defense when he killed Enrique Gonzalez on Dec. 13.
Gonzalez pointed a loaded shotgun at Fulton during the altercation, making Fulton’s use of deadly force justified under Colorado law, Morrissey said.
Gonzalez, 32, that passed through his lungs and heart in the encounter on the 5000 block of West 44th Avenue. Investigators found Fulton fired six rounds from his pistol.
“When I saw that gun come up, the only thing that went through my mind is I was fearing for my life,” Fulton told investigators, according to Morrissey’s report on the shooting. “… I thought I was about to be killed.”
Authorities say Gonzalez was carrying a Benelli Armi 12-gauge shotgun that had two live shells in its chamber and another in a magazine.
Fulton stopped the vehicle Gonzalez was driving — a Saturn sedan — because it was missing the right rear tail light assembly and the entire right rear quarter panel, according to Mountain View police.
Authorities said Fulton believed the vehicle may have been fleeing a hit-and-run.
“Something struck me as odd right off the bat,” Fulton told investigators after the shooting.
Mountain View covers about 12 square blocks west of Denver’s Sheridan Boulevard between West 44th Avenue and West 41st Avenue. happened two blocks inside Denver after Fulton followed Gonzalez out of Mountain View.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or @JesseAPaul
