Two days before he was shot and killed by Parker Police Department officers, a 35-year-old Montrose man had texted his girlfriend to say, “I don’t see me being alive in the next 2 days.”
Michael Wayne Marin was on a top 10 wanted list out of Grand Junction and was facing prison time for aggravated robbery and other charges. He also had methamphetamine and amphetamine in his system when he repeatedly pointed a gun at three officers who were pursuing him in an apartment complex on Twenty Mile Road. Those things provide context to the situation that led to three officers firing fatal shots at Marin, a letter from the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said.
Parker officers Gregory Moreno, Bradford Bankston and Eric Graham will not face criminal charges because Marin was the aggressor, and the officers reasonably believed their lives were in danger, said the letter, which was signed by chief deputy district attorney Jacob Edson.
The incident began around 9:46 p.m. on Nov. 4 at the Trailside Apartments on the 10000 block of Twenty Mile Road when a resident called police because a stranger wearing an orange jacket had been knocking on her door for more than an hour, the DA’s letter said. The resident pointed out a black SUV that the man had been driving.
The SUV had been reported stolen out of Grand Junction, the letter said. Officers could see a gun safe inside the SUV. Another officer then spotted Marin, who was wearing an orange jacket, but Marin ran when officers asked him to stop, the letter said.
Marin first pointed a black .22-caliber semi-automatic handgun at Moreno while standing at the entrance to a breezeway at the apartment complex. Moreno fired five times and thought he hit Marin at least once. Still, Marin ran again, the letter said.
The second time Marin pointed the gun at officers, he was in crouched position in the breezeway, the letter said. Moreno fired three more times.
A second officer, Bankston, arrived, and Marin stood and pointed his gun at both officers. He ignored commands to stop. Both officers fired more rounds.
Marin fell face down, and his pistol was near his head. By then, Graham had arrived on scene, the letter said. All three officers yelled for Marin to stop moving.
“Despite all these additional and continued verbal commands, Marin again attempted to sit up, removing his hands out from underneath his body,” the letter said.
Officers Moreno and Graham shot at him for the fourth time. Marin was struck by 15 bullets.
“At this point, Marin stopped moving and officers placed him into custody, starting CPR and applying an automatic defibrillator,” the letter said.
Marin was pronounced dead at Parker Adventist Hospital.
The investigation determined that Moreno fired 16 rounds, Bankston fired three rounds and Graham shot six rounds. Investigators did not find shell casings or fired rounds that indicated Marin had used his gun even though one officer thought he had shot at them at least once, the letter said.
Later, Marin’s ex-girlfriend told investigators that he had said he didn’t want to be involved in a shootout with police but that “he would do whatever he had to do to avoid going back to prison,” the letter said.