DENVER — Aurora police on Monday released five additional videos of the events leading up to the shooting of 14-year-old Jor’Dell Richardson earlier this month.
The videos, all of which are less than three minutes, show various angles of the teens fleeing what police called suspicious activity at an Aurora strip mall. One video, taken from the alley, shows officers chasing Richardson and taking him to the ground. The video, though, is blurry during the time in which Officer Roch Gruszeczka shot and killed the teen. Another video does not show any of the teens or officers, but a gunshot can be heard.
Richardson’s family had called for Aurora to release all videos of the incident. Chief Art Acevedo disclosed two body camera videos during a June 9 news conference after showing the family three days earlier (State law mandates that police departments wait 72 hours between showing videos to families of people killed by police and releasing the footage publicly).
The 18th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team continues to investigate the officer’s decision to shoot the teen.
Richardson’s death sparked outrage in Aurora, with hundreds of people marching earlier this month, demanding answers and the chief’s resignation.
Police initially responded June 1 to reports of suspicious activity at the strip mall. Police said they suspected Richardson and other teens of threatening a convenience store clerk with a gun and taking several vape canisters.
After chasing Richardson into an alley, Gruszeczka and another officer, James Snapp, tackled the teen to the ground. Gruszeczka saw what he thought was a gun on Richardson and shot him once in the stomach, police previously said. Acevedo initially told reporters that Richardson had a “semiautomatic firearm pistol” — but eight days later said the weapon was actually a pellet gun.
