Posts tagged shooting
Boulder police: More info on officer-involved shooting
Nov 25th
The Boulder Police Department today is releasing additional details about an officer-involved fatal shooting that occurred on Sunday, November 24th at approximately 12:46 pm.
On 11/24/2013 at approximately 7:30 am, officers were dispatched to a potential domestic situation at 3009 Madison, apartment J208, Boulder, Colorado. Upon arrival, officers contacted the victim, 41 year old Kirsten Stenseng, outside of the apartment. It was the victim’s mother who had called police, concerned over the welfare of her daughter. However, Stenseng advised the officers that nothing had happened between her and her boyfriend (suspect). Officers attempted to contact the suspect, but no one would answer the door to the apartment. Stenseng stated that she was leaving and officers observed her drive from the scene. Other than a restraining order violation, officers did not have probable cause to believe any other crime had occurred. The suspect could be charged with the restraining order violation at a later time.
On the same date at approximately 12:30 pm, the department received a call from a neighbor claiming the suspect had been yelling and throwing things outside the apartment. The caller also observed the suspect with a large knife stabbing a wooden post outside the apartment. The manner in which the suspect was yelling led the caller to believe the victim was in the apartment. He was therefore concerned for her safety.
Officers were dispatched to the scene. Upon arrival, responding officers were unable to locate anyone outside the apartment. They could not find the victim, but did locate her vehicle, a gold Cadillac, which was back in the parking lot outside the apartment. Based on information from the caller, and the fact that victim’s car was in the parking lot, the officers had reason to believe the victim was in the apartment and may be in danger.
Officers put together an entry team of four officers and attempted to make contact at the apartment. After several tries and not getting a response, the decision was made to forcibly open the door to check on persons inside. Soon after getting the door opened, but prior to getting inside, officers observed the male suspect start to run toward the door with a knife in each hand. Several commands to “get down” and possibly “drop the knife” were given to the suspect. The suspect quickly ran toward the officers while holding the knives in a high position. One officer had to deflect the suspect with a ballistic shield as he ran past him and toward Officer Vincent Gallerani. Officer Gallerani was unable to retreat before the suspect was upon him. Thinking the first officer had been injured and he was about to be stabbed, Officer Gallerani fired three shots at very close range, striking the suspect at least two times. The suspect immediately fell while still holding the knives. The first officer then kicked the knives out of the suspect’s hands. See attached photos.
After the shooting, it was learned that Stenseng was safe in a nearby apartment with another resident. No one else was located in the suspect’s apartment.
The rifle used in the shooting was a Heckler and Kock (HK), model 416, .223 caliber rifle. It is a department owned SWAT issued rifle.
During the follow-up investigation, threatening comments directed at Stenseng were found posted on social media by the suspect. One comment indicated that he would kill Stenseng.
The suspect was a 42 year old white male wearing a black t-shirt, khaki pants, and body armor, the type one might wear for dirt bike riding or paint ball games. He had shoulder pads and a breast pad, elbow pads, and shin guards on. He was also wearing furry Ugg boots. Suspect was later pronounced dead at the hospital. We are withholding the suspect’s name until released by the Coroner’s office.
“It is always unfortunate when an officer has to use deadly force and it is a very emotional experience for any officer who is put in this situation,” stated Police Chief Mark Beckner. “We are very thankful none of our officers were injured by this attack. Additionally, our condolences go out to the suspect’s family for their loss. From what we know right now, it appears as though the officers took reasonable measures to protect everyone’s safety, but were forced into a very difficult and life threatening situation.”
The officer who fired the shots is Officer Vincent Gallerani, a 14 year veteran of the department. Officer Gallerani is a team leader on the department’s SWAT team and well trained in officer safety and entry techniques. Officer Gallerani received a Chief’s Commendation earlier this year for his role in successfully handling an incident at the police department involving an individual who appeared might have an explosive device.
The officer who used a shield to defend himself from attack is Officer Nick Smetzer, a 12 year veteran and also a member of the SWAT team. Other officers in the immediate area at the time of the shooting were Officer Ryan Lord, a 13 year veteran, and Officer Jenny Paddock, also a 17 year veteran of the department.
The Boulder County Investigative Team is continuing the investigation and will present its results to the Boulder County District Attorney once completed. Officer Gallerani will remain on paid leave pending the completion of the investigation.
— CITY–
Police shooting being investigated
Nov 24th
Boulder officers responded to a call at 12:30 p.m. from a neighbor who reported that a man, armed with a knife and a machete, was making threatening remarks and stabbing a post outside his apartment. When officers arrived, no one was outside. They knocked on the door of the apartment where the suspect lives. When they got no response, they forced the door open. A male suspect jumped out from near the doorway and came toward the first responding officer with a knife in each of his hands. Preliminary reports are that the officer ordered him to get down. When the suspect did not, the officer fired his rifle twice.
The suspect was transported to Boulder Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The officer, a 14-year veteran of the Boulder Police Department, was uninjured. He will be placed on administrative leave with pay, pursuant to departmental policy in these types of incidents. Several other officers witnessed the shooting.
Neither the suspect nor the officer is being identified at this time, as officers are working to notify their families.
The Boulder County Investigation Team is staffed by investigators from a variety of Boulder County law enforcement agencies. The team is responsible for conducting unbiased, objective investigations in cases when officers use deadly force or other incidents involving in-custody deaths.
Officer-involved shootings are unusual in Boulder. The last incident of this type involving Boulder police was in 2008 when a SWAT officer shot and killed a man who said he was wearing a bomb and threatened to detonate it inside Boulder Community Hospital.
Additional information will be released as it becomes available.
–CITY–
It wasn’t pretty but CU men got a good win
Nov 19th
by B.G. Brooks
CUBuffs.com contributing editor
BOULDER – Colorado’s young Buffs are growing up, which means an occasional pain or two. For now, it’s nothing they can’t tolerate but it won’t stay that way much longer.
Ebbing and flowing Monday night at the Coors Events Center, CU alternately buried and revived Arkansas State before finally putting down the talented Red Wolves 93-70.
“Obviously, we’re happy with a 23-point win,” Buffs coach Tad Boyle said. “That was the good news. But I think again, like most games we’ve played this year, there’s a lot of things we can take from this one and learn from and get better from. And I think the thing that stands out for me tonight was defensive intensity.
“I thought we let up a little bit the first part of that second half, and part of that credit goes to Arkansas State. They’ve got good players; we knew that coming in . . . but we’ve got to have that killer instinct defensively. We let up a little bit and let them back in it. But we gained control of it and I was proud of our guys. There’s a lot of good things to build on.”
Let the construction work continue.
The Buffs (4-1) led by 18 points at halftime, by 20 in the opening seconds of the second half, then by only eight points with 13:30 remaining. Such are the mood swings for a team depending on four true freshman and a redshirt freshman for quality minutes.
CU ultimately took control against Arkansas State (2-2), which had lost 85-64 at Wyoming on Sunday, but it took a Spencer Dinwiddie three-pointer with 10:09 to play to restore a double-digit lead (68-56) and allow the Buffs to rediscover how to hit the accelerator. Dinwiddie, one of four CU players in double figures, had another fine floor game, hitting four of five field goal attempts (two-of-two threes) and three of four free throws for 13 points. He also had a game-high five assists and two steals.
But the Buffs’ high-point man was their growing low-post presence, Josh Scott, the 6-10 sophomore. His 20 points were one short of his career high. “They had a 6-7, although he was 250 pounds, and a 6-10 – but they were single-covering me and they weren’t digging hard,” Scott said. “If you’re going to give me that, I’m probably going to score. That’s pretty much all I can say about that.”
Also in double figures for the Buffs were freshmen George King (11) and Jaron Hopkins (10). Eleven of the 14 CU players in uniform scored, but for the second consecutive game the Buffs were without sophomore forward Xavier Johnson, who also missed Saturday’s game against Jackson State after being “dinged” in a late-week practice, according to Boyle.
Once again, Hopkins opened in Johnson’s place – and once again Hopkins was effective early, scoring five points on two free throws and a three-pointer in an 11-0 run that helped the Buffs open a 12-point (22-10) advantage. King also hit a pair of three-pointers during that surge and made good on a prophesy to roommate Tre’Shaun Fletcher.
“I noticed in warm-ups I wasn’t shooting the ball well, but in this one I focused on blocking everything out . . . . I told my roommate, ‘Fletch,’ I was going to hit a three in this game,” said King, who hit both of his three-point attempts as the Buffs hit nine for the second consecutive game.
But Boyle wasn’t necessarily pleased with that number, especially with the Buffs hitting only one of their first eight trey attempts and getting away from their offensive philosophy. They finished the half 6-of-15 from behind the arc and 9-of-23 for the game. Said Boyle: “I thought we got trigger happy in the first half with threes. We can’t live and die with those . . . we’re an inside-out team.”
Boyle previously had expressed a reluctance to have three freshmen on the court at the same time, but with Johnson out now for two games there is little choice at times. “I’d rather have it in a game like this,” Boyle said. “Hopefully in a couple of weeks I won’t look at them as freshmen. But our freshmen are growing up quick . . . tonight was another step in the right direction for them.”
CU trailed only once, allowing a trey by Melvin Johnson III – a 6-6 senior transfer from Texas-San Antonio – to open the scoring. Nothing out of the ordinary for Johnson; he entered the game having connected on 12-of-22 three-point tries in the Red Wolves’ first three games and was the team’s leading scorer (16.7 ppg).
He finished as Monday night’s leading scorer with 25 and teammate Brandon Reed added 21. But they were the only Red Wolves to score in the first half; their teammates went 0-for-13. Kirk Van Slyke, a 6-10 post, added 15 points, but aside from the Red Wolves’ brief second-half spurt they simply couldn’t keep pace with the Buffs’ mostly young guns.
CU pushed ahead 40-22 with 4:05 left before intermission, and at halftime, the Buffs were still up by 18 – 46-28. There was little reason to think the Red Wolves could catch up in the final 20 minutes, but they gave it a shot – a three-point shot. They hit five of their seven treys after intermission, pulling to within eight points twice before the Buffs decided ‘D’ might be necessary.
CU held A-State to 28.6 percent from the field (8-of-28) in the first 20 minutes, but 53.3 percent second-half shooting brought the Red Wolves to 41.4 percent for the game (24-of-58).
“I think we locked them up pretty well in first half . . . we chased them off the three-point line,” Scott said. “Coming out of the half, we didn’t find their shooters. They hit some good shots (but) we finally got locked in and got the win by a large margin.”
After Dinwiddie fed Hopkins for an alley-oop slam to open a 20-point lead (48-28) seconds into the second half, CU appeared to be cruising. But over the next 51/2 minutes, the Red Wolves outscored the Buffs 19-7, taking advantage of a familiar CU deficiency – perimeter defense.
A-State used four three-pointers during that span to pull to within 55-47 with just over 14 minutes remaining. But the visitors from Jonesboro, Ark., could get no closer than eight points the rest of the night.
The Buffs surged to a 25-point lead, 90-65, on a Beau Gamble-assisted Ben Mills stuff with 1:45 to play. Sophomore walk-on Brett Brady got the Buffs to 93 with a three-pointer in the final minute and the CEC crowd of 8,204 roared its approval.
Boyle wants the roaring – as well as the attendance – to increase. The Buffs’ six-game home stand begins to wind down Thursday when UC-Santa Barbara visits the CEC (6 p.m.). On Sunday afternoon (2:30 p.m.), Harvard visits, and Boyle said the Buffs need to “get our minds right” for both games.
“The last two weeks this team has gotten better,” he said. “You can feel it offensively and defensively (but) Santa Barbara is a different caliber team, Harvard is a different caliber team. We’ll find out in the next two games how great those strides have been.”
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
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