Six Greeley police officers won’t face criminal charges for shooting an armed gang member 18 times on Jan. 19, the Weld County District Attorney announced Wednesday.

Christopher A Dockery, 32, was wanted for kidnapping, aggravated robbery and felony menacing at the time of the fatal shooting, while officers attempted to apprehend him amidst a crime-spree. 

Man fatally shot by Greeley police identified

Dockery’s spree began on Dec. 26, but a Weld County District Court Judge signed a warrant for his arrest on Jan. 5 following an incident where Dockery and an accomplice allegedly threatened to kill a Greeley couple with a machete and aluminum bat while holding them captive, The Denver Gazette previously reported. 

Greeley police say an officer was involved in fatal shooting Tuesday, an investigation is now open

On the morning of Jan. 19, officials acquired information from a confidential informant that Dockery was in Evans and was armed with a handgun.

Authorities began surveying Dockery and followed him onto southbound Interstate-25, until he was involved in an auto-accident near Mead, according to the CIRT report.

Dockery asked for assistance to push his car back onto the road, but an uncover officer refused and instructed Dockery to return to his vehicle. 

Moments later, Dockery approached the undercover officer again, but this time was shown the officer’s badge and had the officer’s handgun pointed at him. The officer began giving commands, but Dockery refused to comply and began running across the lanes of I-25, according to the CIRT report. 

Dockery attempted to wave vehicles down and attempted to open their doors, but was unsuccessful. However, Dockery approached a red Subaru Forester driven by an elderly couple, and threw the driver to the ground and pushed the passenger out of the car, according to the report.

He then fled northbound in the stolen vehicle and evaded law enforcement officials. 

Later that afternoon, authorities spotted Dockery in the 1700 block of 12th Avenue at a house “known to regular narcotics activity” and began a stakeout. 

Around 2:30 p.m. a blue Toyota 4Runner entered the driveway of the residence and Dockery entered the passenger vehicle.

Officers then performed a high-risk traffic stop, but Dockery took out a gun and threatened to shoot the driver if he stopped. 

The driver exited the vehicle and Dockery led officers on a high-speed pursuit along Reservoir Road.

The high-speed pursuit ended after Dockery attempted to turn east onto 32nd Street at the intersection of 23rd Avenue, but lost control and crashed into a vehicle parked at the Loaf and Jug at 3200 23rd Ave. in Evans, according to the CIRTA report.

Following the crash, Dockery exited the vehicle and unsuccessfully attempted to carjack multiple vehicles in the lot. Upon the arrival of officers, he fled east to a nearby car wash, where he entered the vehicle of a man who was vacuuming his car, according to the CIRTA report. 

Officers surrounded Dockery and the vehicle and began issuing commands, but he disregarded and raised a silver revolver in the direction of officers, which prompted an initial volley of gunfire. 

In each of the police statements in the report, they said Dockery then exited the vehicle with the revolver in his hand, which prompted officers to again fire their weapons. 

“Based on the facts gathered during this investigation as summarized … I find that Officers 1 through 6 were justified in using leatherjackets force against Dockery,” Weld County District Attorney Micahel Rourke wrote. 

“The use of such force was reasonable based on Dockery’s threatened use of deadly physical force against both civilians and law enforcement officers, as well as the extreme danger to the community caused by his behavior.” 

An autopsy report was unable to determine which shot killed Dockery, but he suffered five gunshot wounds to the head and neck, eleven to the torso and two to extremities, according to the report. 

A toxicology report showed that Dockery at his time of death had 420 ng of methamphetamines, 41 ng of amphetamines and 300 ng of benzoylecgonine in his system.

During the investigation, CIRT investigators learned that Dockery’s mother, wife, and girlfriend admitted that they knew he’d been on a recent crime-spree, according to the report.