A Denver SWAT team mistakenly raided the wrong apartment while searching for a violent suspect, terrifying a family and holding two young girls at gunpoint as they screamed, "Don't hurt us," according to a lawsuit.
On June 6, 2023, Denver police officers were conducting a raid to arrest Danny Gene Garcia, a suspect in an attempted murder case, USA Today reported.
Officers had knowledge that Garcia resided in Apartment 307 but instead stormed Apartment 306, home to Kirsty Shelton, her mother Sharon Shelton-Knight and two young children.
The officers reportedly ignored the clearly marked apartment number and forced their way inside, guns drawn, despite multiple warnings from the family that they had the wrong address.
Bodycam footage from the raid shows officers pointing weapons at Shelton and Shelton-Knight, ordering them outside while refusing to allow them to retrieve their children. Inside, the girls cowered in fear, crying as police swept the apartment with weapons drawn.
When the officers burst into their room, the children screamed, "Don't hurt us!" before the SWAT team attempted to calm them down.
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in Denver County District Court, alleges that Shelton was forced to carry her youngest daughter downstairs despite having a medical condition that made it painful for her to do so. The family was then held in a police car for up to two hours while officers arrested Garcia in the correct apartment.
The Shelton family claimed to have suffered physical and emotional trauma, requiring extensive counseling for PTSD. The lawsuit accuses the officers of violating their constitutional rights and covering up their actions.
Official police reports claim the family was "evacuated for their safety," a narrative the lawsuit refutes as a deliberate attempt to rewrite events. The Denver Police Department has refused to comment, citing pending litigation and an internal investigation.
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