Good afternoon, everybody.
Thank you for coming out this
afternoon on Friday afternoon.
I just want to give you prelimiy
information as we know it.
I want to caution everyone thats
is a rapidly involving investign
and this is all preliminary
investigation and what we know w
because I think it's important o
be as transparent as possible wn
officers have to use lethal for.
So last night at approximately
940 in the evening officers,
our dispatch center received a
call from a woman who was afraid
for her life and she had previos
relationship with this man.
The man had been calling her tht
evening saying that he was goino
come over to her residence and t
he was known to carry a firearm.
You know, I, I.
I started my career in social work and
I investigate a lot of family violence,
so I know how dangerous these
situations are both for victims
and the responding officers.
And so last night was no differ.
This was a a scary incident and really
terrifying for the female victi.
The suspect was known to be armed and he also
had active felony warrants for his arrest.
In both the city of Boulder and
Adams County for domestic violee
and other related charges,
our charges stem from at least one previous
incident with the victim at this location.
The first officer arrived,
arrived on the scene approximaty
10:00 o'clock in the evening,
did an an intensive interview with her
and waited for additional cover cars.
The suspect was supposed to arre
at her residence a little bit
after 10 between 10:10 and 10:3.
At approximately 1116,
the suspect drove up to this woman's home.
There was a very brief confrontn
with the suspect and one of our
officers deployed A Taser which
was partially effective.
Seconds later,
the suspect pulled a 9 millimeter handgun.
Two officers,
2 Boulder police officers fired their guns,
striking the suspect.
The suspect tragically died at the scene.
He has been identified at He has
been identified by the Boulder County
Coroner's Office as Christopher Swagner.
He has a white male,
36 years old.
He did not live in Boulder,
thankfully last night.
Our officers or any other victims in the
area were not injured during this incident.
You know,
the use of deadly force is someg
no officer wants to do or engag.
The taking of of life is the mot
serious action an officer can
take and it will stay with them
the rest of their lives.
We've asked the Boulder County
Investigation team to investigate the
officer involved shooting like any other
case where an officer fires their weapon.
They are currently conducting
interviews with the involved officers,
so I'm not allowed at this point to give
any information about their interviews.
Once the interviews and the
investigation is concluded,
this investigation will be turned over
to the District Attorney's offi,
Michael Doherty's office.
I want to reiterate at this timI
have no reason to believe this s
anything other than a tragic but
justifiable justifiable shooting based
on the facts as we know them no.
I also want to encourage anyoneo
is a victim of domestic violence
to reach out for help the Safe
House Progressive Alliance for 9
violence known as SPAN.
Is a great,
great resource for help and so
is our Boulder Police Departmen.
We have victims advocates here s
well who are always willing to .
At this time,
I'm going to turn it over to Michael Doherty,
and then we'll answer a few questions.
I want to thank you again for coming out.
Good afternoon. I'm Michael Doh.
I'm the District Attorney for the 20th.
Judicial District,
which is Boulder County,
and I want to thank you for beig
out here on a Friday afternoon
before Memorial Day weekend.
I share the chiefs commitment to being
transparent and sharing information with
the community as quickly as possible,
but I also want to join her in emphasizing
how early we are in this investigation.
It was just last night that this took place.
We're going to learn a lot betwn
now and the next several weeks,
and as we learn more informatio,
we will always share that
out with the community,
including when I make my ultimae
decision about whether the
shooting was justified or not.
And I'll talk more about that in a minute,
but I really appreciate you being here
because we recognize how importt
it is to share information withe
community as quickly as possible when an
officer or officers use deadly physical
force against another individua.
In this case,
after Boulder police officers
discharge their weapons,
they immediately notified the
critical incident team or the
Boulder County investigation te.
I really want to emphasize how
important that is in making sure
that we conduct an independent,
thorough and infective.
Investigation into what took pl.
And in Boulder County,
pursuant to our protocol,
when a law enforcement officer uses deadly
or potentially deadly physical force,
the law enforcement agency,
the officers are required to notify the team.
So we could bring in officers ad
detectives from other agencies to conduct
an independent and thorough investigation.
And that's exactly what happened here.
I can't think of a time in my ee
career where the notification to the team
happened as quickly as it did last night.
So as the Chief indicated,
the shots were fired around
11:20 in the evening.
My phone was ringing at 11:40 lt
night and people already startig
to respond to the Boulder Police
Department from all different ps
of Boulder County from all difft
agencies to ensure that the very
best detectives and investigatoe
have in Boulder County would cot
that independent investigation.
That investigation normally will take
several weeks for the investigas
to complete because they're
extremely thorough on what they.
They look for every piece of evidence.
Physical evidence, videos,
witness interviews, and so on.
And that work began in earnest t
night and is continuing throughout today
and will continue in the weeks ahead.
Once that investigation,
which again usually takes a few weeks,
is completed,
it's then turned over to the
District Attorney's office for e
to determine whether the offices
actions were justified or not.
That's our process.
Anytime an officer uses deadly
or potentially deadly physical
force against another person,
that's what the team is working on now.
In my career as a prosecutor
over the past 25 years, I,
like Chief Harold,
have worked on domestic violence
cases time and time and time ag.
And they so often present
danger and extreme risk not
only to the victims but also
to responding police officers.
And that's what we saw last nig.
And they at times can result
in tragic consequences.
And again, that's what happened
with the loss of life last nigh.
So I want to reiterate what the chief
said about resources available n
Boulder County and having worked
different places in my career,
I can tell you we're really fortunate
in Boulder County to have the vm
services and support that we do
from the span and safe shelter f
Saint Vrain Valley and from eacf
the law enforcement agencies hag
victim advocates on hand to asst
the victims of domestic violenc.
So if you're a victim or survivr
of domestic violence,
I really encourage you to reacht
to span or safe shelter of Saint
Vrain Valley or one of your locl
police agencies for assistance.
Thank you for being here today.
I really do appreciate it.
I'm going to step to the side,
but if you have questions for
the Chief or myself,
I'm happy to do my best to answer those.
Although again I would emphasizw
early we are in the investigati.
Thank you.
Two different counties.
I can tell you that my
understanding was that Adams
County had active warrants out .
The suspects arrest and like an
all warrants that anytime that t
person would have contact with
police officers they would run s
information and he would be acty
look for and arrested at that p.
Our warrant just went into
the system not long ago,
but I can tell you that we have
documentation that the warrant s
actively being investigated and we were
actively trying to locate this .
We don't have a fugitive unit,
but we do have detectives that
and officers that do this kind
of work on an ongoing basis.
That was for domestic violence
and I'm sorry I didn't catch
the incident from my understandg
occurred on May 13th.
The warrant was signed within
the last I want to say yesterda.
Was your question did the
suspects fire any shots?
We're still looking at that.
I can't tell you definitively if
you did or not at this point.
I'm sorry I and just a
reminder we're not bolder.
We're not investigating the actual case.
Those questions can be answered
later when we when we really hae
a a thorough understanding of wt
happened and they they do still
shots of the body warm camera.
But I'm sorry,
I just can't answer that at this time.
Do you know if the officer
that first tried the Taser?
I believe that was a different
officer and I believe from what,
from what I I am being told,
the Taser deployment was
partially effective,
not completely,
did not completely incapacitate the suspect.
It's too early to to say they're
they're still working obviously
with with this victim and
you can imagine how horrific this this
would be for a victim and but te
officer's quick response and this this
suspect with a gun thank God they were
they responded it the way they did and
so quickly and I don't I don't want to.
You know, I don't. I just don't.
I don't know. I don't.
I just don't know. At this poin.
May 13th at the same address and
the reward for that position.
I believe so, Sir.
Any other questions?
Given that you knew that the sut
was potentially armed, what stes
are officers supposed to take to
avoid the deadly complication?
Yeah, that's that's a great question.
And you know, the community
knows how passionate I am about.
The sanctity of all human life
and tactics that these officers
are trained in most certainly
time distance barriers are usedn
these types of types of inciden.
And so I can tell you that
from my perspective,
less lethal force was attempted
but was partially effective.
But I can tell you this is always at the
forefront of our officers they've received.
A tremendous amount of training
on how important it is tacticaly
communications and intelligence gathering
on situations like this that ate
center of our use of force modes
the sanctity of human all human life.
I hope that's helpful, John.
I believe all three officers hae
been put on paid administrative
leave like in any other situatin
where officers use the firearms.
I believe so. Do you know
if there's any attempt by family members,
the band that was killed to gets
guns removed or anything like t?
I'm sorry, I don't know.
I don't know any information
about that at this time.
Absolutely. Michael,
I really appreciate all
the questions you have.
And these are all valid questio.
Of course, I want to emphasize .
Once I make the decision as
District Attorney as to whether
the shooting was justified or n,
I share that information with te
community in the form of a very detailed
report that's posted on our web.
We also anytime an officer
uses deadly physical force,
I host the community town hall where all
the body worn camera video is also showed
to members of the community and the media.
So if you have questions
that about this incident,
just know that I promise you,
we promise you that all the vido
is going to be made available.
People be able to see clearly what danger
the officers faced last night and what
actions they took in response to that danger.
And that's true in every officer involved
shooting that we handle in this jurisdiction.
We always host a community town
hall where we share the videos,
the photographs, explain the Ballistics,
all the witness interviews,
everything,
so that people understand why
we've made the decision we reac,
whatever that decision is.
So these questions that you have today
are definitely valid and they will be
answered in that final presentan
when we announce our decision a.
Whether the officers actions
were justified or not,
this I believe is the first fatl
officer involved shooting that
you have received here in the
city of Boulder, Is that right?
I do believe so. How are you
feeling? How am I feeling?
It's a it's it's a tragedy,
it's it's a tragedy for this man's family.
It's a tragedy.
These officers will never be the same.
This victim will never be the s.
We're all tired,
We've all been working hard,
and I'm just glad there was no r
victimization regarding this incident.
Thank you all for coming.
Thanks guys. I appreciate you coming out.