Two Denver police officers shot a man who police say was carrying an “assault rifle,” near the 1300 block of West Alameda Avenue Sunday, according to a police spokesman. The man died Sunday night, police tweeted.
UPDATE: The individual who was shot in this incident has been pronounced deceased. No further details are available at this time.
— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice)
Two officers shot the man, who was hospitalized in “unknown condition,” Division Chief Ron Thomas said during an afternoon press conference.
Police were called to the scene around 2:50 p.m. when an employee at a liquor store called police and reported that a man with an assault rifle was at the store’s drive-thru window. Thomas said officers are not sure what the man was doing at the liquor store.
Officers responded and found the man about a block northwest of the liquor store, Thomas said. Two officers parked, got out of their vehicles “at a safe distance” and starting giving commands to the man, Thomas said.
“The individual ignored those commands, began advancing toward those officers and ultimately threatened those officers with that assault weapon,” Thomas said. “The officers discharged their weapons; the suspect went down.”
Thomas did not know how many shots were fired, but said both officers shot the man. The man did not fire any shots, police said. Thomas did not describe what actions the man took that were considered threatening.
Neither officer was hurt.
The shooting will now be investigated following the police department’s standard protocol, including reviewing body camera footage of the shooting.
The Denver District Attorney’s office will decide whether the officers acted within the law or should face criminal charges.
