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Westminster officer justified in shooting, killing man who brandished gun

Westminster Officer Robb Phelps/Jeremy Rink

A Westminster police officer won’t face any criminal charges after investigators found his actions of shooting and killing a man who allegedly threatened multiple bystanders with a gun was justified.

On Oct. 1, while responding to a disturbance call, Westminster Police Ofc. Robb Phelps shot and killed Jeremy Rink, who reportedly caused many disturbances and threated multiple bystanders with a gun, according to a Colorado’s 17th Judicial District Attorney’s decision letter ruling Phelps legally discharged his firearm.

Among the disturbances, the letter said Rink struck multiple cars in the parking lot, threw a bike off a third-floor balcony and spit on bystanders.

Upon arrival, body cam footage shows Phelps approaching multiple bystanders who had Rink pinned to the ground.

Rink, who was initially shot by a taser, wrestled with bystanders trying to subdue him and then pulled out a revolver, according to the decision letter and body cam footage. The two men who wrestled with him, and held his arm that had the gun up by the wrist, ignored officers commands to get away from him. 

Body cam footage shows Phelps yelling multiple times “drop the gun!”

As a bystander was attempting to remove the gun from Rink’s hands, Phelps fired one round into Rink’s torso, police body camera footage shows.

“It was just clear that if I didn’t shoot him, somebody is going to get shot,” Phelps told investigators.

The 17th District Judicial District Attorney isn’t pursing charges because investigators found, under Colorado law, that Phelps used deadly force in a manner necessary to protect  himself and others from serious bodily injury, or death, according to its decision letter.

“There is no evidence to suggest that an objectively reasonable officer would have acted differently than Officer Phelps in this situation,” the letter said. “As this situation quickly evolved, Officer Phelps attempted to resolve the situation in a non-lethal manner.”

The letter added: “Mr. Rink ignored reasonable commands and persisted with his escalation of violence, particularly when he drew a handgun from his pants pocket.”

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