Several Denver police officers are on non-line-of-duty assignments following separate officer-involved shootings late last month.
The first incident occurred early in the morning of Aug. 22, when officers responded to a call of shots fired in southeast Denver. Around the same time, an additional call for domestic violence came from the same area.
Body camera footage released by the Denver Police Department shows officers arriving at the apartment complex in the 4900 block of East Donald Avenue. A woman runs down a stairwell and exits the building, followed closely by 48-year-old Javier Nava Carbajal.
Believing Carbajal to be the suspect in the domestic violence call, the three responding officers ordered him to stop. Instead, he fled on foot.
Officers caught up to him in a nearby parking lot and tried to detain him, but police say he ignored commands to get on the ground. During the confrontation, Carbajal pulled out a replica gun. He can be heard telling officers the weapon “isn’t real.”
In a video seen by CPR News, Carbajal was given repeated orders to drop the weapon but refused. Officers struggled to control the gun until one officer fired a single shot, striking him.
Carbajal was then transported to Denver Health Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. It was later determined that the weapon was a replica loaded with real ammunition but was incapable of being discharged.
Police do not believe Carbajal is connected to the original call for shots fired. They are still looking for the woman in the alleged domestic violence incident. Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said the department has seen an increase in the use of replica weapons in the city.
The second officer-involved shooting occurred Aug. 25 at the intersection of West Alameda Avenue and South Lipan Street east of the Platt River after callers reported a man pointing a gun at passing cars.
Body camera footage from the three initial responding officers shows the man identified as 62-year-old Allen Scott standing behind a shopping cart with a BB gun, which he points at officers. Police gave him commands to drop the weapon before they opened fire.
Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said three of the about a dozen officers on scene discharged their weapons a total of 10 times in the incident, but only one rifle round struck Scott. Once he was hit by that round, officers formed a “shield” to safely determine whether he was still armed before rendering aid.
Scott is believed to be homeless and is currently in the hospital, where he’s expected to survive.
“We don’t know whether he possibly obtained this weapon to protect himself,” said Thomas.
No officers were injured in either incident.
It is also unclear whether either of the men shot were intoxicated at the time of the incidents.
As required by protocol, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the Denver Police Homicide Unit, and the Colorado State Patrol are investigating both shootings under the supervision of the Office of the Independent Monitor. Findings will be turned over to the Denver District Attorney’s Office for review.
