DENVER (KDVR) — The Aurora Police Department has released body-worn camera footage of the moment a SWAT officer shot and killed a suspect in May.
The shooting happened on Thursday, May 23 in the 300 block of Ironton Street, which is near East Alameda Avenue.
APD Division Chief of Operations Kevin Barnes said officers with APD, the APD SWAT Team and the Denver Police Department Fugitive Unit wereseeking a fugitive who had an active warrantfor an attempted homicide that happened on May 5 in Denver.
Officers followed the suspect vehicle to an apartment complex in the 300 block of Ironton Street. According to police, the SWAT team tried to take the suspect into custody and that is when an Aurora SWAT officer shot the suspect.
The suspect, identified as 37-year-old Kilyn Lewis, was hospitalized and reportedly alert and in stable condition later that afternoon, however, he died at the hospital on the 25th.
The Aurora SWAT officer who shot the man is a 12-year APD veteran who has been assigned to the SWAT team for over eight years. He was placed on paid administrative leave.
Police body camera footage released
The Aurora Police Department released video clips with information about the incident. Interim chief Heather Morris said the department takes “any use of force seriously, especially when there is a loss of life.”
Morris said the department wants to release the facts when possible even though independent investigations are ongoing. The released video shows a few seconds of footage from the perspectives of three different officers and not the entire response.
“This critical incident briefing is intended to better provide you with an understanding of what happened based on the facts we know right now,” Morris said. She added that the information is preliminary, and may change as the investigation progresses.
Morris said the suspect was wanted on an active arrest warrant for attempted first-degree murder in a shooting that happened near East 48th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard on May 5. She said Lewis is accused of shooting a 63-year-old man who was walking in the area multiple times.
The victim in that shooting survived. Morris said fugitive teams from Denver and Aurora learned that Lewis visited the apartment complex on Ironton Street.
The teams conducted surveillance on him for a couple of days before the APD SWAT team was requested to assist in the arrest “due to the high-risk nature of the warrant.”
Just before noon on May 23, Morris said officers watched Lewis park a red Chevy Monte Carlo and open the trunk. Both Lewis and the Monte Carlo had been seen on surveillance video at the scene of the May 5 shooting, according to an arrest affidavit.
“He was at the rear of the vehicle when swat officers approached and gave him commands to get on the ground,” Morris said. “At that time, his hands were visible and empty.”
Morris said that Lewis took several steps and placed his right hand behind his back, out of view.
“When his hand came back into view, he was holding an object and one of our officers fired a single shot,” she said.
The object he was holding was a cell phone.
Morris said first responders provided aid until medical responders arrived at the scene. He was taken to a hospital where he died on May 25.
“Critical incidents like these are difficult to watch. They involve real people, people with family and friends who love them,” Morris said. “I know that nothing I can say can ease the pain this family is feeling, what I can do is ensure that a complete and thorough investigation is conducted and share those findings with our community.”
Family concerned about the officer’s actions
The family and their legal representation held a press conference Thursday after the video was released to the public, addressing concerns about the officer’s use of deadly force and expressing the pain that came as a result.
Edward C. Hopkins Jr., the Lewis family’s attorney, noted that the press conference was one of several held in the last 10 years after the Aurora Police Department killed unarmed Black men. He cited cases like that of Naeschylus Vinzant and Elijah McClain.
Hopkins argued that the officer who shot Lewis should have been arrested on the spot, as he was the sole officer who fired his weapon.
“I want to know what the other officers who saw him kill Kilyn Lewis were thinking, why didn’t they do what they were sworn to do and arrest that murderer on the spot?” he said. “They shot a man, hands up, a phone in his hand. The phone got him killed in Aurora. You raise your hand with a phone, if you’re a Black man, that gets you killed in Aurora.”
He said Lewis was trying to process what happened and had surrendered with his hands up before the shot was fired.
“Wearing jeans and a tank top, police saw there was no gun, and they made a decision to jump out of unmarked cars and surprise him. He wasn’t expecting to turn around and see AR-15s pointed at his face,” he said.
Hopkins said he’s hoping the officer will still be arrested and more information will be released to the public.
Attorneys, family members question why the officer shot Lewis
“It happened fast for the other officers who didn’t shoot, they got all the training, they train for this, if they want to use the excuse that it happened too fast, they need to get better training or they need to get better officers,” Hopkins said.
“I’m standing in front of you today because a bad officer shot Kilyn before a good officer could protect him,” Lewis’ wife Andreec Lewis said.
Andreec said she has watched shows about police killings and never thought it would happen to someone she loves.
“This is the kind of pain that sticks with you and I hope I’ll learn to deal with it better in time because this pain will never go away,” she said.
Kilyn Lewis’ mother, LaRonda Jones, called for residents of Aurora and communities across Colorado and the nation to stand with them in their fight for justice.
“We will not rest until we see real change, until justice is served, and until the memory of Kilyn Lewis is honored by a commitment to a safer and more unbiased Aurora,” she said.
She urged people to watch the “chilling” body camera footage.
“Can you imagine listening to your child’s last words, their last dying words, ‘I ain’t got nothing!’” she said.
The father, Robert Lewis Jr., said he was at a loss for words due to his sorrow about his son.
“I don’t see any way that he was acting that made you shoot and kill my son,” he said.
What’s next?
A new group called “Justice for Kilyn E. Lewis” is forming with a message that problems are due to a pattern of misconduct and excessive force at the Aurora Police Department.
There is an independent investigation that is being led by the 18th Judicial District critical incident response team to determine whether the officer’s actions complied with state law. The Aurora Police Department’s Internal Investigations Bureau is leading an investigation to determine compliance with agency policies and training.
The Aurora Police Department said it will not comment or provide more details until the investigations are complete.
