A Colorado police officer who fatally shot a Black man holding a cellphone as police tried to arrest him will not be prosecuted. Officer Michael Dieck told investigators he believed Kilyn Lewis, who was wanted in connection with a shooting in Denver, was holding a gun and was about to fire at officers in nearby Aurora on May 23, said District Attorney John Kellner. The other officers, who did not fire at Lewis, also described Lewis’ actions as consistent with someone preparing to draw a weapon, the Associated Press reports. Lewis was shot as police moved in to arrest him in the parking lot of a condo building.
In body camera footage, officers can be heard shouting at Lewis to get on the ground. After taking a few steps next to his car and putting his right hand behind his back, Lewis raises his hands in the air, as if to surrender. Kellner said Lewis showed his left hand but put his right hand in his right rear pocket, out of the view of officers. Lewis than raised his right hand holding an object, later identified as a cellphone, and Dieck fired one shot. Lewis family members have called for Dieck to be prosecuted for murder. “This decision is not only a failure of justice but a message that the life of an unarmed Black man like Kilyn means nothing to the very system that is supposed to protect us,” they said.
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