Denver police on Wednesday defended the actions of three officers who wounded six bystanders — one more than originally reported — while shooting a suspect in Lower Downtown early Sunday morning.
Cmdr. Matt Clark showed still images from the officers’ body-worn cameras that showed 21-year-old Jordan Waddy facing officers and pulling out a gun before three officers fired seven rounds at about 1:35 a.m. Sunday at Larimer and 20th streets.
The officers shot Waddy but also wounded six bystanders in the busy district, which was especially crowded as bars closed and patrons moved into the streets. Clark on Wednesday refused to say how many of the wounded bystanders were shot, saying he could not determine whether they were hit by direct gunfire or injured by flying debris....
The incident began when officers regularly tasked with patrolling the area as bars close each night witnessed a fight between Waddy and another man outside the Larimer Beer Hall in the 2000 block of Larimer Street. Waddy struck the man and officers believed he was concealing a gun in his clothing, Clark said.
The officers followed Waddy and confronted him in the middle of the street — which was closed to traffic and empty of pedestrians. Waddy did not listen when officers told him to stop, and instead walked away from officers and back to the sidewalk, closer to the crowds.
The officers briefly lost sight of him behind a vehicle. When they saw him again, he pulled the gun from his clothing within two seconds, prompting the officers to fire. Waddy fumbled with the gun as he pulled it out, and appeared to grab it on the top, with his hand over the slide, Clark said.
He did not hold the gun in a “pistol grip” and it’s not clear if he could have fired it the way he grabbed it, Clark said. He said the officers believed the muzzle of the gun pointed at officers as Waddy pulled it out. The officers believed they were in mortal danger and fired, Clark said.
Lessons:
1. If drunk and disorderly, do not pull out a gun.
2. Stay away from bars.
3. If you have a legitimate basis to use deadly force, hit that target, not the bystanders. If you cannot, wait until you can.
4. When gun banners insist that only "trained professionals" are competent enough to be armed in public, point to Dicken in Indianapolis and Denver PD.
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