UPDATE: Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015
The teenager shot and killed by Denver police Monday has been identified as 17-year-old Jessie Hernandez.
According to the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner’s preliminary autopsy results, the 17-year-old died of multiple gunshot wounds. The shooting has been ruled a homicide.
“I don’t know what else they stole or whatever they did. I’m sorry, it don’t seem like you had to kill her,” neighbor Arellia Hammell said.
“I’m just really heartbroken right now because I just lost a friend that I was cool with (sobs),” Nyomi Wilder said. “She’s not the type of person to do anything like this at all or get herself in trouble and it’s just crazy to hear this.”
According to witnesses, police dragged Hernandez’s body after the shooting:
“They killed my friend like they were just dragging her and they’re trying to say it was a woman. That was a little a** girl that they just shot for no reason. Oh my (sniffs),” a tearful Brianna Diaz said.
Denver police, however, said protocol is to make sure a suspect doesn’t pose a threat, even when they are “down.”
An investigation continues.
SOURCE: Fox Denver | PHOTO CREDIT: Facebook
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An individual described as a teenage girl by friends was shot and killed by Denver police early Monday.
Police say the unidentified suspect drove a stolen car at two officers, hitting one in the leg. Police opened fire — the girl was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital. Police did not release her name or her age.
In video taken by a neighbor, the teenager can be seen handcuffed, rolled over on her stomach. Police search her lifeless body.
From The Denver Post:
The shooting happened at about 6:30 a.m. in an alley near the intersection of 25th Avenue and Newport Street. A volley of shots rang out in the crowded residential area of Park Hill, waking neighbors who said the gun reports were followed screams and cries
Police said there were five people in the vehicle at the time, all “very young in age.”
“Based on what I know about the case, obviously there are a lot of questions that need to be answered,” Denver police chief Robert White told reporters at the scene.
White said both officers fired their weapons and together discharged “several” shots.
An officer was investigating reports of a suspicious vehicle in the alley before the shooting, police said. The officer ran the vehicle’s plates and learned it was stolen, calling for backup. A second officer arrived before the two approached the car, White said.
Police say the car was reported stolen Sunday night.
Brianna Diaz, who lives on the alley where the shooting happened, said her 16-year-old sister was a passenger in the car the officers shot at. Diaz said her sister was being dropped off after a night of hanging out with friends.
Diaz said her mother ran out of the house after hearing the shots and was stopped by an officer who grabbed her and tried to calm her down.
“My mom told me to start filming, but when I took out my phone the cop was like, ‘Don’t you dare!'” she said.
The officer who was hit by the car is in fair condition at a local hospital.
This story is developing…
SOURCE: Denver Post | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty | VIDEO SOURCE: News Inc.
