 Are we ready? Well, good afternoon and thank you all for coming. Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas here with Commander Matt Clark from our Major Crimes Division here to provide a detailed overview of the officer involved in shooting that occurred last Friday, August 25. And we believe these briefings are important as it allows us to be transparent with the community that we serve and also provides us an opportunity to share what we've learned through our follow up investigation. Now, before I turn it over to Commander Clark, I'd like to point out a couple of or call out a couple of important themes that I think that you've been able to see in reviewing the video and you'll hear here in the narrative. The first is the blatant disregard for public safety displayed by the offender. In this case, putting the community in significant jeopardy and then much later our officers in significant harm. And then the second is what I would describe as significant restraint and discipline displayed by our officers throughout this ordeal. So Matt. Hi, good afternoon. I'm Matt Clark. I'm the commander of the Denver Police Department's Major Crimes Division. Thank you for being here today and giving us an opportunity to provide an overview of the incident related to the police officer involved shooting that occurred on Friday, August 25, 2023, around 11.20 PM in the 3,500 block of York Street in Northeast Denver. This is intended to be a follow-up briefing based upon information that we've gathered after interviewing numerous witnesses, speaking with the involved officer and analyzing evidence collected at the scene. Criminal charges are currently being pursued against two individuals involved in the series of events that will be described. And as a result, there may be information I cannot disclose which may limit our ability to answer some questions, but to the degree that we're able, we'll take questions at the end. This is a complex case that involves multiple incidents, individuals, and locations. I'm going to attempt to present this in a chronological order, describing what the officer's new, and then I'll fill in information that was learned through the investigation to clear up some of the gaps. On Friday, August 25, 2023, around 5.30 PM, a motorist was traveling northbound on I-25 between 6th Avenue and Colfax when a vehicle approached him from behind and began tailgating closely. The driver of the lead vehicle changed lanes and attempted to move out of the way. The driver of the other vehicle pulled alongside the victim vehicle, and the driver pointed a handgun out the driver's window directly at the driver of the other vehicle. The suspect driver then discharged the weapon, which shattered the glass of the rear passenger window of the victim's vehicle. Fortunately, nobody was injured in that incident. The suspect driver continued northbound on I-25. The victim remained behind the suspect and called 911. Despite direction from the 911 call taker to pull over and wait for officers, the victim continued following the suspect vehicle before losing sight of it in the area of 45th Avenue and Josephine Street. Uniformed officers immediately responded to the area and located the suspect vehicle unoccupied next to a residence in the 4,700 block of Josephine Street. Officers searched the surrounding area and did not locate anybody associated with that vehicle. Officers watched the residents adjacent to the vehicle and observed movement inside that home and people looking outside the blinds. Officers attempted contact with the residents but did not receive a response from anybody inside. A tow truck responded to the location and impounded the vehicle that was involved in the road rage shots fired incident, and that occurred approximately 645 that evening. After the suspect vehicle was impounded, the uniformed officers left the area and undercover officers in unmarked vehicles began conducting surveillance on the residents in order to attempt to determine if the individual responsible for the road rage shooting was inside. Shortly after 11 PM, an undercover officer observed a red truck with two occupants, a male and a female, arrive at the residence in the 4,700 block of Josephine Street. The officer continued surveillance and observed a male and female exit the Josephine residence and get into the truck. The truck, now containing four occupants, left the residence and proceeded southbound on Josephine Street. Uniformed officers driving marked Denver police vehicles attempted to stop the truck in the 4,700 block of Josephine Street by blocking the path of the vehicle and activating their emergency overhead lights. The driver of the truck accelerated around the police vehicles colliding with a marked police vehicle and hitting a tree before turning westbound on 47th and then quickly southbound on York Street. Seconds later, officers heard multiple gunshots being at them from the truck. Officers pursued the vehicle with their emergency equipment activated for approximately one minute and 20 seconds. During that time, the driver made no effort to stop. Officers attempted a pursuit and mobilization technique to stop the vehicle near 37th Avenue in York Street, but the driver was able to correct the vehicle and continue driving southbound. The truck was then driven on the sidewalk on the east side of York Street in the 3,600 block as the driver continued southbound. When the vehicle came back onto the roadway near 36th Avenue, an officer used his marked police vehicle to make intentional contact with the rear passenger side of the truck causing it to roll onto the driver's side and come to a stop in the 3,500 block of York Street. Officers set up behind the vehicle and to the side of the truck, but could not see inside because of the way the vehicle was positioned. The officers reported hearing screaming from the vehicle as well as the horn honking. Officers also reported hearing what they believe was a gunshot from the passenger compartment of the vehicle. Over the next 15 minutes, officers attempted to communicate with the occupants of the vehicle to gain compliance and render aid related to the vehicle collision. The occupants of the vehicle eventually kicked out the front windshield of the truck. Officers heard a male inside the vehicle yelling that he had a hostage and that he was gonna kill her. A female inside the vehicle was also screaming at that time. Officers observed a male party exit by stepping out through the front windshield. He was holding a female who he positioned between himself and the officers that were located across the street. The suspect appeared to be controlling her movement and using her as a human shield. The male yelled at officers not to move and directed them to back up. The female was heard saying he has a gun. The male pulled the female with him as he walked backwards away from the officers. He held one hand behind her head as if he was holding a gun to her head while maintaining control of her neck with his other hand. Officers heard the female crying and believed she was in immediate danger and the male was heard repeatedly yelling, I will kill her. The male took the female to a chain link fence on the side of a residence in the 3,500 block of York Street. Officers remained on the east side of the street and continued issuing commands to gain compliance and ensure safety of the female hostage. There was no indication that the male intended to comply with the officers or release the hostage. Based upon statements from the male indicating the female was a hostage and that he was gonna kill her, coupled with the male's actions to control the female's movement while using her as a human shield, officers believed she was in significant danger and recognize their immediate intervention was necessary to save her life. As the male attempted to move the female over a chain link fence, a single round was fired by an officer using a rifle equipped with a magnified scope. The round struck the male and he fell to the ground. The female remained near the male after the shooting. She initially did not comply with officers' commands and related to officers that she was now in possession of a firearm. Officers communicated with her and the male for the next four minutes so they could safely separate them to assess their injuries and render aid. The male suspect eventually crawled out to officers and was taken into custody. He was immediately assessed by a medical ambulance team that was waiting nearby and was transported to an area hospital. The female was also transported and evaluated for injuries sustained when the vehicle rolled over. She has since been released from the hospital and was taken into custody on unrelated warrants. Two other occupants in the truck, the male driver and the female passenger remained in the truck after it rolled. The male initially refused to exit the truck as commanded by officers. Officers deployed a 40 millimeter less lethal round that struck the male. He then exited the truck and was taken into custody. Both the male and female were transported to a hospital for treatment related to the evaluation following the vehicle rolling over and were released from the hospital early Saturday morning. The male driver is currently on a hold for parole violation. Additional charges may be added as the investigation continues. The female passenger who remained in the vehicle was also arrested on unrelated warrants. Following the shooting, officers secured the scene on York Street and the residents in the 4,700 block at Josephine Street. A search warrant was executed by the department's Metro SWAT team at the Josephine House and two individuals were found to be inside. Both had unrelated arrest warrants and were taken into custody. Through the investigation of these multiple incidents, it was learned that one of the individuals who was taken into custody in the 4,700 block of Josephine Street was the individual responsible for the road rage shooting incident that occurred on I-25. This individual was identified as 33-year-old Julio Cesar Salomon Madera. The district attorney's office formally charged Mr. Salomon Madera with two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree assault, felony menacing, and illegal discharge of a firearm. It was learned that when the truck left the residence, the male and female who exited were seated in the extended cab portion of the truck. As the vehicle left the residence on Josephine, the occupants saw the officers and recognized they were attempting to stop the truck. The male in the back reportedly pulled a firearm on the driver and told him to keep driving. The driver complied with this demand and continued eluding officers until the vehicle collision occurred, which forced him to stop. Following the contact between the police vehicle and the truck, just over 15 minutes passed before the occupants began to exit. During that time, a plan was concocted between the male and female who were previously inside the residence to stage a hostage kidnap scenario so the male could avoid apprehension for an active arrest warrant and for shooting at officers. Specifically, the plan was that the male would present the female as a hostage that he was holding at gunpoint as he moved away from officers. The female hostage later confirmed this information during a conversation with investigators explaining she was a willing participant in the plan. A vehicle occupant told investigators that prior to exiting the vehicle, the male suspect hit a firearm behind a piece of plastic in the vehicle. Two firearms were recovered at the scene. One was in the roadway near the truck and a second firearm was located underneath the vehicle when it was rolled back onto its wheels. Detectives later executed a search warrant on the vehicle and located a third firearm secreted behind the glove box, as described by one of the occupants. The firearm recovered from the truck during the search warrant was determined to have been stolen in a burglary. Tracework is being conducted on the other two firearms to determine their origin. However, I don't have that information today. Three sped-shell casings were recovered along the pursuit route and one was recovered in the cab of the truck. Investigators awaiting results of forensic testing to determine if those shell casings were fired by one of the firearms that was recovered. No firearms or weapons were located in the yards or along the fence line near the location where the male suspect was shot. Similarly, a weapon was not located in the area where the female was taken into custody despite her statements to officers that she had a firearm. It was determined that one Denver police officer fired one round from his rifle. Preliminary evidence indicates that the range of that shot was approximately 92 feet. The male offender from the vehicle has been identified as 35-year-old Keith Michael Mosley. Mr. Mosley is being held for investigation of attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault related to the multiple shots that were fired at officers. He's also being held for investigation of secondary kidnapping related to the allegation that Mr. Mosley held the driver at gunpoint and ordered him to drive away. This investigation is ongoing and the final decision on charges against Mr. Mosley will be made by the Denver District Attorney's Office in the coming days. Mr. Mosley sustained a significant injury to his face after being shot. He remains in the hospital and is considered stable. In total, six people were arrested throughout this incident. Mr. Solomon Madeira for charges related to the road rage shooting. Mr. Mosley for charges related to shooting at officers and forcing the truck's driver to drive while holding him at gunpoint. Three individuals for unrelated arrest warrants and one person for a parole violation. The officer who discharged his weapon as a patrol officer assigned to the police network investigations team in District 2. Officers assigned to this team conduct proactive patrols targeting violent crime hotspots and assisting with narcotics investigations. The officers worked in Denver since 2017 and was involved in a prior police shooting in 2019 and 2023. The officer's body worn camera and those of other officers present were activated and recording throughout this incident. The officer involved in this incident will be on a modified duty status as he completes the Department of Integration program. The investigation of this critical incident is being conducted by the Colorado Bureau of Investigations, the Colorado State Patrol, the Denver Police Department Homicide Unit and the Denver District Attorney's Office. All critical incident investigations are overseen by the Office of the Independent Monitor which is a civilian oversight entity. We spoke with numerous people and residents in the area but if anyone has additional information regarding this incident, we'd encourage them to contact the Denver Police Department or Crime Stoppers. We previously released a video for you to review prior to this briefing and I can answer questions before I do. For those who haven't seen the video or choose not to watch it, I have some still shots from the body camera that can provide additional context. This first photo is taken from an officer who was on the east side of York Street. This is the 3,500 block of York Street. The vehicle is rolled onto the driver's side. We just rolled 90 degrees onto its side there one time. One of the things that obstructed the officer's view was it has a hard top over the bed of the truck and that opened up when the vehicle rolled blocking the officer's view through the rear flat window. Officers were also positioned to the north of the vehicle and they had no view into the, similarly had no view into the vehicle from that location. As the subject exits the vehicle, the female is directly in front of him and she remains in that position throughout the interaction. In this frame, they have just stepped out of the vehicle. He is facing the officers and is beginning to pull the female back to the west away from the officers. Another frame is he's moving away. Again, during this time, she is indicated to officers that he has a gun and he has made statements indicating I will kill her. In this frame, we're near a chain link fence, a taller chain link fence that is next to a residence. It appears that he may have initially tried to go over that fence but was unable to and then he transitions to the other side, to the neighboring residence where there's a smaller, approximately three foot chain link fence. This is seconds before the shot is fired by the officer. At the time the shot is fired, the male had moved himself over that chain link fence and was attempting to pull the female over that chain link fence. The officer who fired the round was relatively close to this position here. He's in a prone position and takes this charges rifle one time, injuring the individual. Any questions? Yeah, I was just wondering did, I got confused about, did Mosley ever have a gun to his head or not? He did not. We did not recover a firearm. It appears that he was fashioning his hand, holding his hand behind her head as if he had a firearm, but we did not recover a firearm in the vicinity of where he was. That's a whole stretch in the time that the officer shoot at the source for it. Approximately 50 seconds. 50 seconds. 50, yes sir. That's not a real. That's correct. Just on Mosley and the gun, you said you recovered three guns? Yes ma'am. Any idea why he would pretend to have a gun instead of actually having a gun? From what we learned from the plan, the plan was to just create a scenario where officers believed there was a hostage scenario and that they would just let them presumably escape to the West without any other intervention. I'm not sure. We haven't been able to speak with Mr. Mosley. But they thought he would be able to get away. That was the intention with the ruse, the plan. Yes sir. Do you know where he was shot? He was shot in the face, sir. One gun was found in the truck after the search warrant was served. One gun was found and it spills out of the truck. That's correct. The third gun was in along the chain link fence. No sir, we actually recovered that when we rolled the vehicle back onto its wheels. It was underneath the vehicle. So we had one gun open that was visible in the roadway when we righted the vehicle on its wheels. There was a firearm recovered and then during a subsequent search warrant, we recovered one from behind the glove box. So to clarify, was Mosley involved in the road rage incident earlier that day? We don't believe so. Do we know the connection between him and the suspect in that? They're all associates and known to each other and they have common associates at that residence on Josephine. From a different, actually, no, in the first one, the longer one from the officer who shot. At the end, they're telling him to, someone's saying get a 40 and then he, is that, was he holding a 40 and what is that? He was at the end and it's a 40 millimeter less lethal projectile round that he can shoot and that's the larger gun that has a drum style magazine that you might have seen. That's something we use. It gives greater distance for officers to deploy a less lethal tool to control a situation. Is that a rubber bullet or what is that exactly? It's called a spun drowned, essentially, yeah. It appears that the officer did attempt to discharge that and it didn't fire. We don't, I don't have any details on what occurred with that, though. The suspect vehicle from the road rage incident was towed from the location prior to all this unfolding. Yes, sir. So you're exactly right. Around 645, that vehicle was removed from the scene and between about, between that time and 11 o'clock when the red truck pulled up that's ultimately involved here, there was, the surveillance efforts were being conducted by undercover officers. There are descriptions on the road where you should be able to type make. So that was the vehicle that we recovered. It was a Ford SUV, the one that we recovered. And that we had a license plate provided by the victim and officers knew they had the correct vehicle when they recovered it. What were the approximate top speeds that they were moving you in the chase? So I'm not clear on the top speeds of the chase specifically. It was relatively quick. There was, it went from 47 to York and then the essentially 12 blocks to the 3,500 block basically. So it's a pretty quick chase. I told you mentioned that the guy who was thinking that was willingly participating in the plan to avoid this guy to be arrested? That's correct. They have a relationship together and it was her intention to try and help him avoid apprehension. I'm sorry? Not a response issue. Oh yeah. But now I'm just realizing when the officers were talking for four minutes, she did say at one point I have the gun but there was no gun. That's correct. So the guy who was happy here didn't have a gun? He did not. We did not recover a firearm at all from him at that location where he was shot or where she was taken into custody. He's living in part of the previous village that we can hear she's saying that he had a firearm? Yeah, when he gets out of the vehicle, if you'll listen to the immediate what he's saying and as she's being pulled away, listen to what she's saying there. On the video of the officer who was not involved in the shooting? Yes, ma'am? And that's right. People in the truck said that Mosley was pointing a gun at the driver to force him to get away. That's correct. And also that Mosley had put a gun, hit a gun behind the glove box? That's correct. That information came from occupants of the vehicle. Did I understand earlier the woman also hauled a gun on the driver too? No, it's just Mr. Mosley was the only one with the firearm that we're aware of. But those firearms were recovered in the truck? One was recovered in the truck. One was sitting on the roadway outside of the vehicle, and one was underneath between the roadway and the truck when it had rolled. Ultimately, it's the DA's decision as to whether or not that officer acted in compliance with the law. But I will say that I am proud of the actions of all the officers on scene that day. I know you're saying that you don't know exactly how fast this chase was, but can you speak to the cost analysis your officers are doing when they decide to do this kind of chase? Yeah, so it's actually part of our pursuit policy. I mean, officers are directed to take into consideration the danger of the pursuit itself versus the danger of allowing a suspect to get away. And so certainly in this instance where you have a suspect who has shot at someone else earlier in the day and is now shot at officers, I think that there's reason for significant concern and belief that it's probably not prudent to allow them to get away. And so that's why that chase was allowed to continue. Certainly they took other factors into consideration. It's 11 o'clock at night. There was no other vehicle or pedestrian traffic. And so I think that that decision was appropriate. Just to clarify, the person suspected of firing the shots in the road rage that was in the home. That's correct, sir. He was arrested out of the residents on the warrants and then the investigators later determined through working with the victim that he was responsible for the shooting on the highway. But the drivers during the chase are not facing charges related to the chase? Not currently, no. During the chase, their officer here counts the motor fire against them. Is any of those shots hitting a police car or a third-party person that involved? So we don't know where those rounds that they fired from the vehicle went. They did not, we don't have any evidence that they impacted our police vehicles and no officers were injured in this incident. Nobody else. Not that we're aware of. There was no other victims that we identified. So the officer is going to a process of this time to be incorporated. But the officer was previously involved in the 2017, 2019, and 2020 incidents? Two prior incidents, one in 2019 and then another one earlier this year, 2017. So approximately six, seven years. I won't speak for the officer, but I think that the officer was attempting to stop the threat. The threat was to this woman and believing that her life was in danger. And so I think that the shot that was fired was intended to alleviate that threat. And so I don't think that there was necessarily a desire to kill someone, but certainly a desire to save that woman's life. That's correct. So the way that he had his hand positioned behind the woman's head, he was never able to see that he actually had a firearm in his head. But certainly the way his hand was being fashioned certainly led us to believe that there was a firearm in the way that they were both acting. The look on her face, the tone of her voice, the tone of his voice, I think, led everyone to believe that there was a firearm involved in that situation and the fact that the rounds have been fired along the pursuit. So we can certainly speak to the ones that we know that have been filed. We have investigative holds on Mr. Mosley. The others, I don't know specifically what their warrants were for. I do know they have warrants, and I can work with the media relations team, so we can identify who those individuals were. I'm sorry, I missed you. What was wanted on the warrants? She did have outstanding warrants, yes, sir. Multiple? Yes. The four people in the truck had arrested? Everyone from the truck and the two people from the house, all six individuals that were contacted during this incident either had warrants or new criminal charges, so everybody was arrested that night. There is bullshits. There is something that is being held behind the person. So how would you, as a police officer, handle that situation and, you know, from your experience, would you do the same thing that he did, do you think this is a property to do that? Yeah, I can't speak to that. Honestly, I've never been involved in a shooting incident, but, and again, it's not my decision to determine whether or not that officer's actions were appropriate or lawful. But I do think that it's reasonable to believe that that person's life was in significant danger. I do know that the officer is well-trained on that particular weapon system and took his time making sure that he had a good shot. There was appropriate lighting for him to see where his round would place, and he had a scope so that he could actually clearly see exactly where his round was going to go. And so I think that those were appropriate considerations.