Weld County prosecutors on Wednesday announced they will not file charges against three police officers during a February confrontation near Evans.
“The officers’ actions in this situation were justified and authorized by law in order to defend and protect themselves and others from the potentially volatile and dangerous circumstances they faced,” District Attorney Michael Rourke wrote in a letter announcing his decision.
, 37, was slain Feb. 25 after police say he raised a gun at officers and yelled to them: “You’re going to have to shoot me, you’re going to have to kill me.”
The shooting came after officers responded to reports of a suspicious vehicle. Miller fled when police approached, according to authorities, and at one point fired a shot at officers.
Miller was wanted on felony warrants in Jefferson County for second-degree assault, menacing, third-degree assault-domestic violence, criminal mischief, child abuse and harassment.
The Colorado Department of Corrections also had issued an arrest warrant for absconding from parole.
Rourke declined to release the names of the three police officers — two from Greeley and one from LaSalle — who shot at Miller because of the “circumstances of the investigation.”
He cited Miller’s ties to gangs and the need to protect the officers are their families.
Rourke wrote in his letter that the three officers, one of whom had a rifle, fired 14 shots during the encounter.
The Weld County Coroner’s Office found Miller had been shot seven times and was under the influence of methamphetamine during the encounter, the letter said.
Prosecutors used body camera footage as part of their investigation into the shooting.
Miller, who used the alias “Sawed Off,” had a criminal record dating to 1996, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. His convictions included a trespassing charge connected to auto theft and second-degree assault of an officer while in custody, court records show.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or @JesseAPaul
