Aurora police chief wishes Colorado man shot by officers ‘had made a different decision’

Police are releasing more information about a fatal shooting that took place in Aurora last week. Officers responded to a 911 call about a fight outside an apartment complex last Thursday afternoon ended up shooting a man They say he was involved in that fight and was armed with a weapon that looked like an assault rifle. He died that same afternoon.

A day after the shooting, a woman who says she was the suspect’s girlfriend identified him as 38-year-old Kory Dillard. Aurora police have not confirmed his identity, but on Monday, Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain spoke to reporters again about the tragic situation.

He says the suspect tried to steal another man’s car and the two started arguing.

“It actually got to the point where they were rolling around on the ground for a period of time – almost five minutes. “At that point, our suspect took a rock and hit our victim in the head,” Chamberlain said.

The victim did not suffer any serious injuries.

The chief said the suspect then retrieved a replica tactical air rifle that “looks exactly like an authentic AR-15” from his vehicle.

“He waived it and waved it in a very threatening manner,” Chamberlain said.

He says the suspect threatened to kill a woman who was pushing a cart. When officers arrived, they immediately attempted to get the suspect to put the weapon down. According to Chamberlain, the officers said, “Drop the gun, drop the gun.”

They shot the man when he then raised the air rifle and pointed it at the officers.

After being treated by paramedics and taken to hospital, he died.

“What (officers) saw when they arrived at the scene based on the initial investigation was … an individual refusing to listen to verbal commands to put the weapon down. And I honestly wish he had. I wish he had.” “I made a different decision that day,” Chamberlain said.

Chamberlain said there was body-worn camera video footage of the situation. This hasn’t been published yet.

Dillard’s girlfriend said last week that she wished a crisis response team had been present because she knew her boyfriend, a veteran prone to PTSD, was having a crisis. On Monday, the police chief said the guidelines that led to such a response were not followed.

“This doesn’t fall into that category,” the chief said.

“This is not this incident. This incident is an incident that…was violent from the very beginning when the Aurora Police Department learned of it. It started as a robbery and a fight. “It escalated to where this person armed himself with something that looked like an AR weapon, walked up and down the street, completely endangering the community and threatening another person,” he said.

Chamberlain says the investigation is ongoing and the officers who fired shots are on leave, which is standard procedure.