WATCH DPTV: Molly Hughes with today’s top stories
Denver police shot and killed a teenage girl early Monday who they say drove a stolen car at two officers in a dark alley, hitting one of them in the leg.
It was the third time in seven months that Denver police have shot suspects whom they accused of using cars as weapons.
The shooting happened about 6:30 a.m. near the intersection of East 25th Avenue and Newport Street in Park Hill. A volley of shots rang out in the crowded residential area, waking neighbors who said the gun reports were followed by screams and cries.
Neighbors said there were five teenagers in the car. The driver, who was pronounced dead after being rushed to a hospital, was a high school student, friends and neighbors said.
Authorities did not release the girl’s name or age.
“Based on what I know about the case, obviously there are a lot of questions that need to be answered,” Denver Police Chief Robert White told reporters at the scene.
White said both officers fired their weapons and together discharged “several” shots. Police have not said whether anyone in the car was armed.
An officer was investigating reports of a suspicious vehicle in the alley before the shooting, police said. The officer ran the vehicle’s plates, learned it was stolen and called for backup.
The car had been reported stolen on Sunday night, police said. They declined to release further details about the stolen car.
A second officer arrived before the two approached the car, White said.
The injured officer was treated and released from a hospital for treatment of a leg injury, police said.
Brianna Diaz, whose house backs up to the alley where the shooting happened, said her 16-year-old sister was a passenger in the car.
Diaz said her mother ran out of the house after hearing the shots and was stopped by an officer who grabbed her and tried to calm her down.
“My mom told me to start filming, but when I took out my phone, the cop was like, ‘Don’t you dare!’ ” she said.
Four teen girls and a teen boy had been sitting in the car in the alley for several hours, listening to music and talking, said the parent of one of the teens. She spoke on condition of anonymity.
Earlier in the night, several girls had gathered at Fred N. Thomas Memorial Park to play with a Ouija board and to hang out. The parent had been upset because her daughter had not come home Sunday night and had not responded to phone calls and text messages.
She said her daughter did not know the car was stolen and did not know who would have stolen it.
“She’s taken it hard,” the parent said. “She’s been in shock off and on. It hasn’t really sunk in yet.”
Cecil Anderson, who lives along the alley, said he woke up after hearing shots and then people screaming and crying. Anderson said the screams sounded like they came from a girl.
“Just a lot of confusion,” he said.
The shots also woke up neighbor Chris Wilkerson.
“It sounded like it was happening right next door,” he said. Wilkerson said he heard what “sounded like an argument” just after the shots were fired.
A neighbor captured a video of the female suspect being searched by police after she was shot. In the video, the teen is handcuffed and rolled on her stomach and back on the ground, appearing to be searched.
The girl is limp, silent and motionless as officers move her about.
Emergency medical responders arrived soon after and moved her onto a stretcher and into an ambulance.
Crime scene investigators spent all day at the scene to collect evidence, including pictures of the gold Honda sedan. The car crashed into a wooden fence and brick wall.
The shooting is under investigation by the Denver police Internal Affairs Bureau, the Office of the Independent Monitor and Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, who was on the scene early Monday and met with investigators.
Both officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave. Police spokesman Sonny Jackson said he couldn’t release any further details about the shooting or the investigation.
An investigation could take months.
On Monday night, about 100 people gathered for a candlelight vigil near the scene of the shooting. One of those in attendance was Destiny Moya, 16, of Westminster, who said she went to middle school with the victim and felt obligated to come and pay her respect to her friend.
“She was so young; I never thought I’d be coming to something like this for someone I know,” Moya said. “You hear about stuff like this happening all the time, but I never thought it would happen to a friend of mine.”
As a number of adults decried the Denver police and its role in the shooting, Moya and a number of other teenagers broke away from the crowd, linking arms and walking down through the alley where the shooting took place.
On July 2, Ryan Ronquillo, 20, was killed by Denver police officers outside the Romero Family Funeral Home on Tejon Street after police said he rammed several police vehicles and struck two officers as he tried to escape. Police had been following Ronquillo throughout the day, and they said he was driving a stolen car. The shooting happened as a rosary service was ending.
Morrissey cleared officers of criminal charges but said his decision did not preclude police administrative action or civil lawsuits. The police department continues its review of the shooting.
Ronquillo’s name has become a rallying cry at police brutality protests in Denver.
On Nov. 20, two Denver police officers shot and injured two brothers, who had eluded them in an earlier traffic stop. The brothers’ car was parked between two tractor-trailers in a private truck depot in Commerce City. The officers said they fired their guns after the driver tried to pull toward them as they approached on foot.
Joel Jurado Jr., 26, was initially charged with first-degree attempted murder, but that was reduced to attempted first-degree assault. Carlos Jurado, 20, was initially charged with suspicion of obstruction, but those charges have since been dropped. The police shooting remains under investigation in Adams County.
Staff writer Anthony Cotton contributed to this report.
