Deputies responded to a 911 call from a resident in the 4700 block of East Caley Place at 6:09 a.m. after the resident said they saw a person “acting suspiciously” in a neighboring backyard.

Sheriff’s officials said deputies found a man carrying a large metal pole who came toward them and hit one deputy. The deputies tried to use less-lethal force, including a Taser, which did not work, and two deputies shot the man.

Deputies provided medical aid before paramedics arrived, but the man died at the scene. One deputy had minor injuries from the altercation.

“The investigation remains active as investigators continue to process the scene and collect evidence,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release Saturday afternoon.

Both deputies are on paid leave until the investigation is complete. The 18th Judicial District is investigating the shooting.

The man’s name will be released by the Arapahoe County coroner’s office.

outside the Mansion Nightclub in downtown Colorado Springs. Denver attorneys Andy McNulty and Mari Newman filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

Martinez-Sarmiento “was a father, a son, a brother, and a friend,” the attorneys said in a statement.

The lawsuit claims the shooting is part of a pattern of excessive force by the Colorado Springs Police Department. A spokesman said the department can’t comment on pending or active litigation.

Martinez-Sarmiento was shot after police responded to the report of a disturbance downtown, according to the , which investigated the shooting.

When officers approached, Martinez-Sarmiento turned and ran and reached toward his waistband. Officer Connor Wallick shot Martinez-Sarmiento, who died at the scene.

in El Paso County ruled the shooting was justified because Wallick believed the young man was going for a gun and that a Taser or a less-lethal response would be inadequate.

The lawsuit says Martinez-Sarmiento posed no imminent threat to Wallick or anybody else and that the officer’s “use of deadly force was grossly excessive.” The shooting is one of a series of excessive-force incidents by Colorado Springs police, the lawsuit claims.

The complaint lists 13 incidents in which the attorneys say people were killed or injured by Colorado Springs police officers who used excessive force. In several of the cases, the city of Colorado Springs paid substantial sums to settle misconduct claims, attorneys said.

However, the Martinez-Sarmiento case makes it clear the police department “has yet to adequately train and supervise its officers regarding the appropriate and legal use of force, or to otherwise ensure that the clear ongoing custom and practice of police misconduct ceased,” the attorneys contend.

“Something is profoundly wrong when a young man of color cannot walk the streets of Colorado Springs without being gunned down by the police,” Newman said in a statement. “Alex Martinez-Sarmiento cooperated with every command issued by Officer Wallick and raised his hands when ordered, showing that he was holding nothing but a cigarette.”

In its decision not to pursue charges in Martinez-Sarmiento’s death, the district attorney’s office said Colorado Springs officers responded to a report on July 5, 2025, of a man yelling and brandishing a firearm near a nightclub. Police went to the 100 block of Pikes Peak Avenue.

One group of people said they hadn’t seen anyone with a gun. Wallick checked a report of an altercation between other groups of people. He received surveillance photos of a person later identified as Martinez-Sarmiento with a gun, according to the district attorney’s report.

Wallick believed Martinez-Sarmiento had retrieved a weapon from a car and was going to menace others outside the nightclub, the district attorney’s office said. Wallick then approached him on foot, drew his gun and told Martinez-Sarmiento to raise his hands.

After starting to comply, Martinez-Sarmiento turned around and ran. Wallick told him to stop running. The officer fired his gun three times when it looked like Martinez-Sarmiento was reaching into his waistband for a weapon, according to the district attorney’s report.

A semi-automatic firearm loaded with an extended magazine was recovered from the suspect¶¶Ňőap pant leg by another officer, the report said.

The lawsuit disputes the officer’s version of events. The attorneys wrote that the description by a 911 caller of a man screaming at people and carrying a weapon didn’t match Martinez-Sarmiento. The caller described a Black man with a rifle.

Wallick gave no warning that he was about to use deadly force, the attorneys said in a statement. Martinez-Sarmiento didn’t point or fire a gun, they said. Other officers chasing the young man didn’t fire “because none of them perceived him as a threat,” according to the attorneys.

The attorneys are seeking an undisclosed amount of compensation and a jury trial.

The City Council voted to establish the Office of Public Safety Accountability at Monday night’s meeting. It could be up and running by the fall, City Attorney Pete Schulte told The Denver Post.

“We will start the recruitment process this summer and hope to have the manager hired soon thereafter,” he said.

The creation of the office comes after a series of high-profile fatal encounters between police and unarmed Black men. It also builds on a consent decree the city entered with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office in 2021, following a yearlong investigation that found a pattern of racially biased policing and use of excessive force by Aurora officers that routinely violated state and federal law.

The impetus for the state’s investigation of police practices was the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain. In 2019, he was stopped by police while walking home and injected by paramedics with a lethal dose of the sedative ketamine.

Police officers have killed other unarmed Black men in Aurora since then.

The new office will perform oversight of Aurora’s police and fire departments, along with its 911 dispatch center and detention facilities. Any critical incident involving those agencies, defined as an incident “resulting in death or serious bodily injury,” must be reported to the accountability office within 30 minutes.

Aurora’s accountability manager, who will be chosen by the city manager, will have access to all personnel and information involved in the incident and will be responsible for issuing a report, according to the ordinance passed Monday night. The measure passed unanimously as part of a block vote.

The office will assign a liaison to the family of the person killed or injured in a critical incident within 48 hours, with the duty to keep the family updated on the progress of any investigation that ensues. The accountability manager will hold at least two community listening sessions per year on critical incidents that occur in the city, the ordinance states.

MiDian Shofner, a regular attendee at Aurora council meetings since police shot and killed Kilyn Lewis in May 2024, told The Post that the new office’s effectiveness “will ultimately be determined by its independence, transparency and willingness to engage directly with impacted families and communities.”

“An accountability office cannot be measured by the number of reports it produces,” she said. “It should be measured by whether families receive timely information, whether community concerns influence decision-making and whether recommendations lead to tangible changes in policy and practice.”

Aurora’s move this week puts the city in the company of just a handful of Front Range cities with independent oversight boards or monitors, including Denver and Boulder. Earlier this year, Lakewood’s City Council voted to “work toward the establishment” of an independent civilian oversight board for that city’s police department.

Aurora set aside $329,000 in its 2026 budget to pay for the new office.

In a statement, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, said he called on Aurora to establish an independent police monitor to take over once the consent decree with his office ends.

“A permanent structure for independent review of the police department will help ensure that reform, accountability and transparency continue, and that the city is responsive to community concerns,” he said.

In the 10th report of the , released in April, Aurora was reported to be in “substantial compliance” with 63 of the 78 mandates — or 81% — laid out in the consent decree.

The report says the consent decree is scheduled to expire in February. But Weiser’s office says the city must be in compliance with the consent decree’s requirements for three years before it can be terminated.

“So there is no end date at this time,” the attorney general’s spokesman, Lawrence Pacheco, said Monday.

Shofner, who heads up the nonprofit group Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership, said the establishment of the accountability office was an important step in a city where policing practices had “deeply affected public trust.”

“The most encouraging aspect is that the city is formally recognizing that public safety accountability deserves dedicated resources, staffing and attention,” she said. “That is a significant step forward from relying solely on existing structures that many residents felt were inaccessible or ineffective.”

In other action Monday, the council voted to place three issues on the November ballot that aim to raise $264.5 million through bond sales to pay for 65 projects across the city.

Dubbed the bond issue is split into three buckets: transportation infrastructure, public safety and community facilities. It¶¶Ňőap been 33 years since Aurora voters last agreed to raise the city’s sales tax to pay for city services or projects.

Grand Junction police officers responded to reports of a man with a knife inside a Dairy Queen at 709 North Ave. at about 6:30 p.m. Friday, according to a .

When officers arrived, they found a man matching the suspect’s description in the parking lot, sheriff’s officials said. Investigators said the officers shot the man in the parking lot, but the events leading up to the shooting were not specified in the release.

The man, who has not been publicly identified, fled the lot and crashed into several vehicles before stopping near the intersection of North First Street and North Avenue, sheriff’s officials said.

Paramedics took the man to the hospital, where he died, according to the release. One person “with injuries consistent with a knife assault” and another who was injured in one of the crashes were also taken to the hospital.

The suspect will be identified at a later date by the Mesa County Coroner’s Office.

The Grand Junction police officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, per department policy, sheriff’s officials said.

Anyone with information about or video of the shooting is asked to contact investigators at 970-244-3266 or Kandyce.Stuck@mesacounty.us.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

A Colorado State Patrol trooper and an Adams County sheriff deputy together fired 13 rounds at Joshua Jackson, 35, striking him multiple times, according to Matt Clark, a commander with the Denver Police Department’s Major Crimes Division.

Clark spoke to reporters at a press conference on Thursday regarding the June 2 incident at a Sinclair gas station and convenience store in the 600 block of Santa Fe Drive in Denver. Footage of the shooting from two officers’ body-worn cameras were also released.

Clark said officers from the Colorado Metropolitan Auto Theft Task Force had been tracking Jackson after it was reported that a Ford F-350 construction truck, which had been left running and unoccupied in the area of Colfax Avenue and Peoria Street in Aurora, had been stolen.

The truck had a GPS tracker and a camera in the cab.

“These images (from the camera) captured the driver operating the vehicle while holding what appeared to be a firearm in his right hand,” Clark said.

Law enforcement followed the truck to the Sinclair convenience store in Denver and waited for the driver to exit the truck, Clark said, so as not to trigger a vehicle pursuit. He was told to show his hands by officers who were in plain clothes but also wearing “tactical vests with law enforcement insignia visible.”

“The subject did not comply and instead went quickly into the convenience store,” Clark said. “The subject produced what appeared to be a handgun and moved around within the store.”

One of the officers outside the store told investigators the subject raised what appeared to be a gun at him, posing an “imminent threat,” Clark said. That’s when the officer “discharged multiple rounds from their duty handgun,” he said.

Body-worn camera footage released Thursday , with Jackson running into the station as officers order him to show his hands. One officer at the scene yells that Jackson has a gun, at which point officers order him five times to drop it.

One officer then yells twice that “he’s got it in his hand.” At that point, an officer begins firing multiple rounds through the glass door of the convenience store. There were two employees inside the store, but no customers, Clark said. Neither employee was injured, he said.

It is difficult to tell from watching the body-worn camera footage what is happening inside the store because of a reflection cast by the windows and glass door of the Sinclair. But a person in light colored clothes can be seen moving around on the floor, darting in different directions.

Officers again tell him not to move and then one officer yells: “He’s going for the gun again.”

More shots follow.

An officer then yells that the suspect has dropped the gun and officers, many in uniform, enter the store and arrest him. Jackson was taken to Denver Health, Clark said, where he remains today. No update was provided on his condition.

Jackson was charged with auto theft and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

At the press conference, Clark . It looked indistinguishable from a real firearm.

“That object was determined to be a lighter designed to look like a handgun,” Clark said.

But the lighter was incapable of firing any projectiles, he said. When a reporter asked about its size, Clark said it would qualify as a “smaller” handgun but one that “could be held in a pistol grip” that would “occupy the size of your hand.”

The Adams County Sheriff deputy who fired at the suspect has been with the agency since 2012, Clark said. The Colorado State Patrol trooper has been employed there since 2018.

Both are on paid administrative leave as the investigation into the shooting proceeds.

A Carbon County sheriff’s deputy first responded to reports of a man with a gun in Baggs, Wyoming — roughly 3 miles north of the Colorado border — at 1:15 p.m. Monday, according to a .

The man, who has not been publicly identified, “opened fire” on the responding deputy, striking him several times before fleeing the scene in a truck, said in a statement on social media.

Colorado law enforcement “immediately responded to assist,” according to the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office.

Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers and other Carbon County deputies pursued the man down Wyoming 789, Bakken said. The man shot again at law enforcement before driving off the highway and coming to a stop, he said.

Colorado’s Northwest Regional SWAT Team — including the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office, Routt County Sheriff’s Office, Craig Police Department, Steamboat Springs Police Department and Hayden Police Department — arrived in the area after the man drove off the road, Moffat County officials said.

The man died at the scene of the crash, Bakken said. Moffat County officials said Wyoming law enforcement also shot at the man. It’s unknown if he died in the crash or from a bullet.

The investigation is ongoing and being conducted by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.

Paramedics took the injured deputy to St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction.

“Our thoughts and prayers remain with the injured deputy, his family, and the dedicated men and women of the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office as they navigate the aftermath of this tragic event,” Moffat County Sheriff Chip McIntyre said in a statement.

Officers responded to reports of a “domestic fight with weapons” in the 900 block of Alexander Circle in northeast Pueblo shortly before 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to a .

The suspect, who has not been publicly identified, left before officers arrived, but he was found later that evening in the 800 block of East Fifth Street, police said in the release. That block is roughly two miles south of the initial domestic violence incident, also on the east side of Pueblo.

When officers attempted to contact the man, he shot at them, police said.

SWAT officers arrived at the new address at approximately 7:41 p.m., at which point the man again shot at law enforcement, police said. An unknown number of officers returned fire, shooting and injuring the man.

Paramedics took the man to the hospital with unspecified injuries, police said.

All officers and dispatchers involved in the incident were placed on administrative leave Tuesday evening pending the investigation, which police officials said is the department’s normal procedure. The officers have not been publicly identified.

The 10th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team will investigate the police shooting.

No additional information about the shooting or the events leading up to it was available Wednesday morning.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Officers from a metro Denver auto theft task force started tracking the barricade truck used in road construction projects after someone stole it in east Adams County around 9 a.m., state patrol said in a briefing.

Police tracked the truck to a gas station at 620 Santa Fe Drive in Denver and the 35-year-old man driving the truck was walking into the store at 11 a.m. when officers confronted him.

“As they began to converge on the suspect, shots were fired,” Packard said.

Investigators believe the man was armed, but it’s still unknown why officers started shooting, Packard said.

Police shot the man multiple times, and he was taken to Denver Health and is in stable condition, Packard said. No officers were injured in the shooting.

Task force members usually wear plain clothes but are required by protocol to wear something identifying them as police when contacting a suspect, Packard said. It’s not clear what the officers were wearing at the time of the shooting.

The Denver Police Department and Colorado Bureau of Investigation are investigating the shooting, Packard said.

Rajon Belt-Stubblefield, 37, was killed by Officer Matthew Neely on Aug. 30 after Neely tried to pull him over for speeding near East Sixth Avenue and Sable Boulevard. Aurora police said Belt-Stubblefield crashed into two vehicles while trying to evade the stop.

In the wake of the shooting, Police Chief Todd Chamberlain blamed Belt-Stubblefield for the confrontation, highlighting that he tossed a gun into the grass after he got out of his car, did not follow police orders and continued to walk toward Neely.

But Belt-Stubblefield’s family has said Neely’s body camera shows Neely first initiated the confrontation by grabbing Belt-Stubblefield by the back of the neck to try to take him to the ground.

Family members previously said they intend to sue the city for Belt-Stubblefield’s death.

The on Friday said the case is being referred to a grand jury for further investigation.

The 18th Judicial District¶¶Ňőap Critical Incident Response Team has completed an investigation, and the district attorney’s office reviewed those records, agency officials said.

Colorado district attorneys usually publish to explain why they are or are not filing criminal charges against the involved officers, including whether an officer’s use of force was justified legally .

“The grand jury is a separate and independent investigative body,” the said Friday. “It will review evidence, conduct any additional investigation it deems appropriate, and ultimately determine whether probable cause exists for the filing of formal criminal charges.”

The Aurora Police Department has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks, with the City Council narrowly passing a measure to limit the publication of booking photos and require city approval for the agency’s social media posts and news releases.

And an independent monitor who oversees court-ordered reforms to the department on Wednesday called for city officials to review three recent police shootings in which officers killed people who were experiencing a mental health crisis.

Independent monitor Jeff Schlanger, in a special 12-page report, requested that Aurora officials investigate the broader circumstances surrounding each fatal shooting, including considering each victim’s mental health history, prior warning signs, attempted interventions and prior interactions with the public safety system.

The review should examine systemic gaps and shortcomings in the incidents, and how both Aurora police and other professionals can work to fill those gaps, Schlanger told The Denver Post.

“It is a call for the city to really examine this entire system,” he said.

The special report was prompted by the April 9 shooting of Amare Garlington, Schlanger said. The 23-year-old man and held a butcher’s knife to his own throat before charging at officers and stabbing both Officer Mark Moore and a police dog at an Aurora apartment complex. Moore shot and killed Garlington.

“This was not, on its face, a conventional criminal enforcement encounter. It was a crisis response that became a violent confrontation,” the report reads. “That distinction is important because it directs attention to the broader question of whether the public system surrounding behavioral health intervention is sufficiently robust to reduce the likelihood that such crises culminate in sudden close-range violence.”

That shooting raised the urgency of issues already on the independent monitor’s radar and convinced they could not wait until the next regular report in the fall to address them, Schlanger said.

The report also outlines two other fatal Aurora police shootings that warrant further review; in both cases, the victims were unarmed.

shot and killed 17-year-old Blaze Balle-Mason on Sept. 18 after the boy called 911, claimed to be armed, threatened to start shooting inside a gas station and then .

Officer Brandon Mills killed 32-year-old Rashaud Johnson on May 12, 2025, as he trespassed in a parking lot near Denver International Airport. That officer shot Johnson as the man walked toward him with his hands at his side about 45 seconds after the end of a physical altercation in which he and the officer tussled on the ground.

Schlanger called for Aurora to launch a task force with representatives from the police and fire departments, the city and mental health service providers to identify gaps in the city’s behavioral health safety net and consider how to fix those problems. The review should also involve state and federal systems, he said.

“Breaking down the silos is important, and then understanding, as well as we possibly can, what can be done differently to achieve a better outcome in these situations,” he said.

Ryan Luby, a spokesman for the city, said in a statement Wednesday that Aurora officials agree with the monitor’s recommendations “and welcome deeper conversations about this topic with all community stakeholders.”

The report emphasizes efforts Aurora and the police department have already made to improve their processes and resources, but concludes that more work needs to be done.

The Aurora Police Department has been under a court-monitored consent decree since 2021, following the death of Elijah McClain. The department agreed to change its use-of-force, hiring and training policies as part of the decree, and submit to outside oversight.

Qusair Mohamedbhai, whose Denver law firm brought a lawsuit against Aurora police over Johnson’s killing, said Thursday that the monitor’s report carries little substance.

“Rashaud has been dead for over one year. Aurora continues to stand by its officer and its monitor only now says, ‘Convene a task force,'” he said. “‘Do not call the police in Aurora if your loved one is in acute mental health crisis’ should have been the recommendation of the monitor.”