Video of fatal police shooting in parking lot is released by Arapahoe Sheriff's
By: Body-camera video from three Arapahoe County Sheriff’s deputies involved in a fatal police shooting has been released to the public.
The shooting happened at about 7:40 a.m. on March 3 in a parking lot at the Ivy Crossing apartment complex, 7545 E. Harvard Ave., according to the sheriff’s office. The man who was shot, 30-year-old Jamarian McGhee, died at the scene.
The morning of the shooting Willmont, who was on patrol, received a request from a resident to check on a brown Kia Sportage SUV parked in the lot. The woman told police that the SUV didn’t have any plates on it and that a man was inside the vehicle, which had been parked overnight. She told Willmont that the man in the vehicle had slept overnight in a nearby apartment stairwell and that he was now inside the vehicle with the motor running.
Foley and Bandstra arrived and the three deputies approached the SUV, announcing their presence and demanding “the driver of the brown Kia, put your hands out the window.” The announcement, amplified through an audio speaker, was made several times. There was no response. The deputies surmised that the person in the SUV “is sleeping.” They use an air horn, to no avail, in an attempt to gain the man’s attention.
Foley approaches the SUV, with Bandstra positioned behind him off of Foley’s right shoulder. Willmont is behind the SUV, using a patrol vehicle as cover, armed with his agency issued rifle. Foley removes a plastic covering draped over the driver-side window, which was down or broken, and McGhee is in the driver’s seat.
“Sheriff’s office! Put your hands out the window. Put your hands out the window,” the deputies announce.
McGhee, startled and distraught, pleads: “I don’t want to fight man. I don’t want to fight.”
McGhee raises his left hand outside the window. The deputies demand that he show his right hand outside the window. McGhee puts the SUV in reverse and starts to backup. Foley shoots a Taser at McGhee, Willmont fires his rifle through the rear window of the Kia.
McGhee shifts the SUV into drive, the vehicle slowly runs over a section of lawn and comes to a stop nearby. The deputies again demand a show of hands, McGhee can be heard moaning. The deputies pull McGhee from the SUV and handcuff him. Deputies radio for a medical response and Bandstra does chest compressions on McGhee, who was shot once in the back.
“A weapon was also recovered from the suspect,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. That weapon was not fired.
The police shooting is under investigation of the 18th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team, which includes multiple law enforcement agencies and the district attorney’s office. The video footage, with redacted images of McGhee, was released in pursuant to Colorado law, the sheriff’s office said.