 Good afternoon everyone. I'm Denver Chief of Police Ron Thomas here with Major Crime Division Commander Matt Clark to discuss two critical incidents that have occurred recently. The first in custody death near the King's Super is the 13th of Spear. The second officer involved shooting incident that occurred in Commons Park near 16th and Little Raven. Before I turn it over to Commander Clark, I just want to acknowledge the fact that anytime a life is lost it's certainly a tragedy and I don't want us to lose sight of that today. But I do think that as you'll see in the second incident that we detail here in a moment that there's evidence to suggest that have the officers not taken the actions that they took that there could have been an even greater tragedy given you know given some of the things that we've discovered in our investigation. So Matt. Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to provide additional follow-up information and details on the two recent critical incidents. This is intended to be a follow-up briefing and it's based upon information that we've gathered after interviewing witnesses to these cases speaking with the involved officers and analyzing evidence that's collected at the scenes. There I'll start we'll just go in chronological order excuse me. We'll start with the first incident that occurred near 14th and Spear on Tuesday November 14th. On Tuesday November 14th 2023 around 1155 p.m. the Denver Communication Center received a call from an individual who was initially rambling and yelling at the call taker. Several minutes into the call the individual reported he was he believed he was experiencing a heart attack and disconnected the call with the call taker. The emergency call taker was unable to call the reporting person back because the cellular phone that he had used to make the 911 call did not have active service. Despite this an emergency response was initiated for the reported medical incident and Denver Fire and Denver Health paramedics were dispatched to the scene. Approximately two minutes later a second 911 call was received from a security officer at the King Supers at 14th and Spear indicating there was a male at the location who was sweating profusely and reporting that someone was attempting to chase him or rob him. Paramedics arrived and located the subject. They helped him into the ambulance and attempted to evaluate him. The male was agitated and non-compliant with medical personnel eventually exiting the ambulance and running away. As the Denver Fire crew that had responded was clearing the scene they observed the same subject damaged the glass entry door of the building at 1391 Spear Street by throwing a rock at it. Fire personnel requested police officers to respond to the location at that time. An officer arrived several minutes later observing the male still standing in front of the business. From a distance that officer directed the male to keep his hands in the air. The subject disregarded this. He turned around and ran west away from the officer. The officer did not pursue the subject at that point and worked to obtain additional information from the fire crew that was still on seat. At 1216 in the morning a 911 call was received at the communication center reporting a male had just broken a ground floor window of an exterior, excuse me, an exterior window at an apartment building at 901 14th Avenue. The call was made by a security officer at the complex. Two security guards had attempted to prevent the male from entering the building. He pushed past the security guards and once he got inside the set of double doors, he was quickly wrestled to the ground by the on scene security guards. During the struggle, it was reported that the male subject punched and bit one of the security guards and that one of the security guards struck the subject one time with a fist to get him to stop the biting activity. Denver Police officers arrived at the location on 14th Avenue at approximately 1220 in the morning. While the security guards still had the subject detained on the ground, the officers handcuffed the individual and after a brief struggle rolled him into the recovery position on his side while they checked him for weapons. He was unresponsive to questions and officers recognized shortly after the arrest the subject was having difficulty breathing. The officers immediately requested paramedics respond back to the scene and when the man stopped breathing began performing CPR. They also administered multiple doses of naloxone in case the man was experiencing an opioid related overdose. The naloxone had no apparent effect on the individual. He was transported to Denver Health Medical Center by ambulance and was pronounced deceased on Thursday, November 16th around six in the morning. In all three Denver police officers were involved in the arrest and rendering of medical aid to the subject. The officers did not use any less lethal systems against him and nor did they strike the man during the rest at any point. Based upon the nature of the officers interaction and the custody status of the individual when he went experienced cardiac arrest, the department instituted its critical incident investigation protocol. This incident is being investigated much like a police shooting with with our partners from the Colorado Bureau of Investigations, the Colorado State Patrol, the Denver Police Homicide Unit, and the Denver District Attorney's Office. It's overseen by the Office of the Independent Monitor. And per our protocol, the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner will determine the cause and manner of death on the individual. He has since been identified as 36 year old James Hutchinson. Just to provide background, the three officers who handcuffed the subject, they're assigned to District One. There was a sergeant on scene. One of the involved officers was a police supervisor who's been with the department since 2017. And the other two are patrol officers, one who started in 2017 and one in 2019. The officers body worn cameras were activated and captured their entire interaction with the subject in the lobby of the apartment building. If there's anybody that has any additional information that we haven't spoken to, we'd encourage them to to contact the police department or crime stoppers. I think this is a good point to just take a brief pause and answer any questions relative to this incident before I move into the next one. Sir, he's a 36 year old male, ma'am. Yes, sir. I think the focus is to start administering CPR, getting compressions, trying to get the blood movement as quickly as possible. And that was the focus of the officers. There's not a specific policy dictating one way or the other. Move into the next incident. On Monday, November 20th, 2023, around 340 in the afternoon, the Denver Communication Center received multiple calls related to a male with a rifle who was yelling at a group and chasing people in the area. The subject was initially reported to be in the area of 16th Street and Platte Street. Callers then advised that the subject had moved towards Commons Park. Officers were dispatched within one minute of the first 911 call and arrived at the park four minutes later. They located the subject sitting on a bench on the west side of the park. Given the information that the subject was armed with a rifle, the uniformed officers did not immediately approach the subject, but instead position their marked vehicles away from him. One officer specifically parked his vehicle on the west side of a hill that's in the center of the park, while another set up on the path south of the subject. The subject directed his attention to the officer on the hill and while still seated on the park bench, raised a rifle in the direction of that officer. The uniformed officers briefly gave commands directing the subject to drop the rifle before the subject began firing multiple rounds at the officer who was on the hill. This officer, along with the officer who was positioned on the path south of the subject, discharged multiple rounds from their department approved rifles. The subject was struck by several of the rounds that were fired and dropped his rifle. Officers recognized the subject was no longer holding the weapon and approached him to determine if they could render aid. Paramedics also promptly responded and determined that that individual was deceased at the scene. Through the investigation, it was determined that two Denver police officers fired a total of seven rounds from their department approved rifles to provide context regarding the distance the officers were when they fired their weapons. The officer positioned on the hill was approximately 130 feet away from the subject and the officer on the path was approximately 137 feet away from the subject. Investigators recovered an AK-47 rifle in front of the subject. This was the weapon the subject possessed and discharged at uniformed officers. The magazine for the rifle contained 33 rounds and one round was in the chamber of the firearm. Investigators recovered evidence indicating the subject fired at least five rounds at the officer on the hill. The subject was found to be wearing a tactical vest cover, which offered no ballistic protection but contained eight additional loaded magazines for his rifle. Detectives found five additional loaded magazines in the bag next to the subject. In total, the subject had 14 magazines for the rifle with over 400 rounds of ammunition with him. Investigators are awaiting the results of a firearms trace on the subject's weapon. So I do not know at this time how he came to be in possession of the rifle or when he obtained it. No one was injured by the rounds that were fired after the shooting the communication center received calls from residents at 1700 Bassett Street indicating multiple exterior windows had been damaged by the gunfire. This building was determined to be in the direct path of the subject's gunfire as he discharged the weapon towards the officer on the hill. Investigators determined the damage to the exterior windows as well as the interior of two residents at that location were caused by the rounds fired by the subject. The two residential units were occupied at the time of the incident and no one was injured inside those residences. Over the last couple of days, detectives have been working to piece together a preliminary timeline of the subject's movements prior to the incident at Commons Park. We've learned that the subject arrived at a residence in Northwest Denver earlier in the day. He had occasionally stayed at that residence. The resident who was home there, I believe the subject was intoxicated at the time and directed him to leave the residence would not allow him in. The subject left and drove away in his vehicle around 240 p.m. We've learned that the subject was involved in a hit-and-run accident where he struck an occupied vehicle and a parked vehicle in the area of the 3100 block of West 37th Avenue near Federal and 37th. After colliding with these vehicles, the suspect drove away. Around 325 that afternoon, the subject vehicle was located disabled near 33rd and Clay Street. The vehicle was blocking traffic on 33rd and appeared to have been disabled with fluid leaking as a result of the prior collision. The vehicle was impounded to further the hit-and-run investigation at that point. Investigators have located video that documented the subject walking away from the vehicle around 250 p.m., likely holding the rifle under a blanket. A subsequent search of the subject's vehicle revealed a bag with approximately 50 rounds of additional rifle ammunition. While we currently don't know the exact path that the subject took from 33rd and Clay to Commons Park, we do believe he walked directly there as it's approximately a mile away from that location. The officers who discharged their weapons are assigned to the patrol division in District 1. Both officers were wearing Denver Police uniforms. They were driving marked Denver Police vehicles. One has been with the department since 2016. He's been involved in a prior police shooting incident in 2019. The other has been with the department since 2019 and has not been involved in a prior police shooting incident. Both officers had their body-worn cameras activated and captured their interaction with the subject. And they are currently on a modified duty status as they complete the department's free integration program. Again, in this case, we've spoken to many people. We also know that there was a number of people in the park. So if you have information, if somebody saw something or captured video of the incident, we would appreciate it if you'd contact the police department or provide that to us through crime stoppers. I can answer any questions you may have. No, sir. No evidence of shots being fired prior, but he may have. Do you think something larger was planned here or or was this just I walked around with a lot of pleasure? Certainly concerning that he had the rifle and ammunition. We have looked at that. We've checked. We've searched his vehicle. We've searched the residents that he was at. There's nothing indicating that there was a larger plan associated with this. There is still work being done. We're just a few days post incident, but we're still working on getting information from his cellular devices, from his social media that's available to us. I don't have at this point. Thanks. So the tactical vest covers just something that would hold ballistic plates if he had those. And that vest did not have ballistic plates. It did have pouches on the front, and that's what he possessed eight rifle magazines with. They do know him. He did occasionally stay at that residence. It wasn't a full time residence. We don't believe for him, but he was known to that individual. The individual recognized that he was intoxicated. I don't think there's a familial relationship or any type of further relationship other than a cohabitant there. Do you have any previous residents? Was he living anywhere in particular, or was this just like? I think he was that if he was staying in a residence, he would be at that particular residence that he went to. Otherwise it sounds like he may have been in and out of his vehicle. So I can't get into the criminal history specifically, but that can certainly be available to you. So we're still waiting on some of the returns to flush that out and see what may not be publicly available. But nothing that we have is currently specific, indicating like what his motivation would be or what his specific background or ideology would be. The officers, I did not hear anything. They don't in their interviews did not report hearing him say anything. Or did someone see him walking around with the other? There were several people see that saw him with the rifle that called. So it was multiple 911 calls before and then we received 911 calls after reporting that the residences in the direct backdrop have been hit. There was there there may have been some sort of interaction and we're still trying to to vet and communicate with some of the witnesses there. And that's why I would encourage if there's people there that came upon him that had an interaction with him to be helpful for us if they could tell us what that interaction was like. Well, so on him and immediately next to him, we found a total of 14 magazines that includes the one in the rifle and over 400 rounds of ammunition. Yeah, we have no real understanding or idea of what brought him there. If he had if he'd been there previously, that's all stuff we're still trying to figure out. But there's nothing to indicate that he had any plan at or around Commons Park that we know of at this point. Yes, ma'am, he was not. And they were they were clear. My understanding at this point is that the people we've talked to were clear that he was just had the rifle and that he did not point it at anybody in that fashion. Let me briefly show the slides real quick. I'm sorry. So obviously the department's released the video for those who haven't seen it. It's tough to provide some context if you're not familiar with Commons Park. So we thought we'd just provide an aerial photo of that. And the specific area and there's three points that all oops, I'm sorry. I'll point out the red circle indicates the bench where the subject was seated. There's a gray circular thing. And that's the that's actually an elevated portion of the hill. And we can't see that clearly in this two dimensional image. But that's the officer on the hill is the upper blue circle. The officer on the path to the south is the lower in the image. And again, respectively, 130 feet away, 137 feet away from the subject when they discharged. I appreciate that. So if you were to draw a straight line from the from the subject past the officer, it would be directly behind the officer. And those were elevated shots on higher floors within that building. These are the two officers that fired. There were their officers present. These two officers discharged their weapons. This is a photograph of the of the rifle that we recovered directly in front of the subject that was used to fire at the officers. We're still working on that. It depends. This this weapon seems to have originated initially out of state and from an out of state transaction. So we're working with our ATF partners to help us do that. And then it's just trying to track the paperwork and the transactions that may have occurred relative to that. No, no, it's not. It was not reported stolen. I do know that. This is an AK 47. You're not you're not allowed to carry those around in Denver. That's correct, sir. That's all we got. Thank you.