CENTENNIAL, Colo. — The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office has released body-worn camera footage related to a deputy shooting on March 3 that left a suspect dead.
The sheriff’s office said three deputies were involved in the shooting: Deputy Daniel Willmont, Deputy Kenneth Foley and Deputy Joshua Bandstra. Footage from all three of their cameras were included in the released video. The suspect is blurred in the footage.
The shooting happened on March 3 around 7:40 a.m. at the Ivy Crossing apartment complex at 7545 E. Harvard Avenue.
The full video is available below. Viewer discretion is advised, as some may find it disturbing to watch.
The incident started with Willmont receiving a request from a citizen to investigate a suspicious vehicle, a brown Kia Sportage, at the apartment complex. When Willmont arrived at the scene, he spoke with the reporting party who said the car, which didn’t have license plates, had been there all night and the person in the driver’s seat at that time had been sleeping in the stairwell the night before.
Willmont approached the car, which was running, and knocked on the passenger side window. When nobody answered, he walked around to the driver’s side and then back to his patrol car. He noticed a person was sleeping in the car and he didn’t react to the knocks, according to the video.
He learned the vehicle had been previously reported stolen and called for assistance, asking one deputy to “position for a felony stop” and “we’ll get him out,” according to the video.
Foley, another deputy, responded to the scene and pulled his car a few feet behind the Kia, angled on the driver’s side of the car. He stood behind his driver’s door and Willmont opened Foley’s front passenger door and stood behind it. Bandstra, the third deputy, then arrived on scene.
After they were positioned, they announced over a loudspeaker: “Driver, brown Kia. This is the sheriff’s department. Put your hands out the window.” They then used an air horn.
Foley approached the Kia, followed by Bandstra, and both demanded the suspect put his hands out the window. The suspect is awake at this point in the bodycam video.
The man is seen putting his left hand up outside the window and said, “I don’t want to fight, I don’t want to fight.” The deputies demanded he put his right hand out the window, which the man does not do, according to the video.
Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office
The suspect then put the car into reverse and hit one of the deputies’ patrol cars, which was parked closely behind the Kia.
When the suspect put the vehicle into reverse, Foley, who was near the driver’s open window, deployed a Taser at the suspect through the driver’s side window. At the same time, Willmont fired his rifle through the rear window of the vehicle.
The suspect then stopped, put the car in drive, and drove slowly about 20 feet off the parking lot, across a sidewalk, and into a grassy area.
When the vehicle came to a stop against a concrete step, the deputies again commanded him to put his hands out the window. The man is heard moaning in the bodycam footage.
The deputies removed the suspect from the vehicle, saw he had been hit by a gunshot in the center of his back, and started performing emergency aid when they could not find the man’s pulse. They also requested the help of South Metro Fire Rescue, which arrived a few minutes after the shooting and took over aid.
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The suspect was pronounced deceased at the scene. He was later identified as Jamarian McGhee, 30.
The sheriff’s office said the deputies found a weapon in the suspect’s possession. Deputy John Bartmann, public information officer with the sheriff’s office, said in March that the weapon was a firearm, and McGhee did not use it during this incident. The deputies are seen in the footage handling the firearm.
The 18th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team is investigating this shooting.
