Denver’s district attorney ruled this week that Whaylen Phares, a Denver Police Department officer, was justified in shooting Javier Nava-Carbajal in August. The ruling was released Monday.
On Aug. 22, three DPD officers were dispatched to an apartment where gunshots had been reported, on East Donald Avenue near Interstate 25.
The officers arrived at 4:05 a.m. According to DA John Walsh, one officer saw a young woman running from a man who was chasing her.
The man was later identified as 48-year-old Nava-Carbajal. The officers yelled at him to stop and chased him when he didn’t.
The officers caught up to Nava-Carbajal, and according to a report from the DA, he “violently resisted” being taken into custody. During a physical struggle, one of the officers saw a gun in Nava-Carbajal's right hand.
During the altercation with the officers, Nava-Carbajal could be heard shouting, “It’s not a real one,” referring to his gun, in the bodycam footage.
An officer grabbed the gun and Nava-Carbajal's right hand in an attempt to take the weapon, then Nava-Carbajal began to reach for the officer's holster.
“I will (expletive) kill you,” Officer Phares said twice, according to the bodycam footage.
Nava-Carbajal was still struggling with the other officer and began to stand up. According to the DA, Phares was worried the other officer would be shot. Phares shot Nava-Carbajal once, hitting him near his left clavicle, at 4:16 a.m.
The other two officers began to administer aid to Nava-Carbajal and paramedics soon arrived on scene.
Nava-Carbajal was pronounced dead at the Denver Health Medical Center, 27 minutes after being shot.
Evidence analysts later found the gun in Nava-Carbajal's hand was a CO2 pellet gun, though it was loaded with 9mm rounds. The gun was not capable of firing those rounds.
The DA determined the shooting was justified under Colorado law as self-defense and defense of others.
There have been eight officer-involved shootings in Denver this year.
Only one Denver police officer has been charged in a shooting in the last five years, after a grand jury indicted an officer in a shooting in 2022.
Colorado is in the top five states with the most officer-involved shootings since 2020.
In 2020, Colorado lawmakers passed legislation requiring law enforcement agencies to report how often they used force, though that legislation hasn’t been followed to its full extent.
