A man who was shot and killed by an Aurora police officer after he allegedly stabbed the officer had a history of mental health and legal struggles, according to public records and the man’s family.

Amare James Garlington, 23, was killed Thursday after Aurora Police Department officers responded at about 3:15 p.m. to the 14000 block of East Stanford Circle on reports that Garlington was threatening to kill himself and others. While police were able to contact him over the phone, he allegedly also threatened to kill police officers who tried to stop him, according to police.

He then ended the call. Police saw him peering out through a window, holding a butcher knife. Officers attempted again to speak with him, but he declined to communicate and held the knife up to his neck and made more threats, police said.

Garlington then allegedly burst through the residence’s door and charged at a K-9 officer while holding the knife up, police said. He stabbed the officer, who has yet to be identified by APD, multiple times in the head and also stabbed the police dog. Police attempted to use less-than-lethal means to subdue him, but it had no effect.

The officer being stabbed then shot Garlington, who was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The officer was hospitalized, underwent surgery, and is expected to be OK, police said, while the police dog was released from a vet clinic last week after staying overnight.

Records show Garlington has a history of legal issues, including a previous case where he was accused of assaulting several Parker Police Department officers and a harassment case, while his family told 9News that he had long struggled with mental health issues and they had tried repeatedly to get him treatment.

Valerie Tatum, Garlington’s cousin, told The Denver Gazette his mental health struggles and legal issues were tied together, and said the mental health and legal systems failed him.

Garlington was due to appear in court in El Paso County on April 28 for a trial relating to harassment/domestic violence charges, according to court records.

On the day of his death, police in Colorado Springs issued a warrant for his arrest after he allegedly violated a protection order in that case. Garlington showed up at his ex-girlfriend’s home and refused to leave on April 9, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

When an officer talked to Garlington via phone, the officer reported: “Amare declined to provide a statement or meet with police officers at this time and said he would not be going to jail,” according to the affidavit.

The protection order was issued in December 2025 and was scheduled to last one year. The original harassment charges in the case stemmed from a November 2025 incident in which Garlington is alleged to have threatened his ex-girlfriend through text messages, including a threat to drive a car into her house, the affidavit said.

Garlington also pleaded guilty in June 2023 to a charge of assaulting a police officer, receiving a 45-day jail sentence and 36 months of probation. He was charged in 2022 with 16 counts, 11 of which were felonies. He was charged with six counts of assaulting a police officer, one count of assault with a deadly weapon, two charges of obstructing a peace officer and one count of resisting arrest. Those were all dropped in a plea agreement.

In that case, Garlington’s mother called the police in Parker in May 2022 after Garlington was throwing things around at her house and screaming. When police arrived, Garlington had left, but his mother told police he had become agitated earlier in the night.

Tatum said the incident in Parker stemmed from a mental health crisis Garlington was going through. She said her cousin had begun to struggle with mental health as a teenager and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when he was 19. Garlington often had episodes of psychosis, she said.

Garlington later returned early in the morning, the affidavit said, prompting his mother to call police again to get him removed from the house as she said he was breaking objects and being combative. Parker police officers responded to the scene, and Garlington then fled the house, leading to a foot chase.

During the chase, Garlington ignored commands to stop, urged officers to shoot him with a taser and claimed to be armed with a gun, according to the affidavit. An officer tackled Garlington when he charged at police, which led to a struggle on the ground, during which Garlington urged officers to shoot him, punched, kicked and headbutted an officer, removed another officer’s badge and stabbed him with the metal pin attached to the badge and bit another officer. 

“Amare also told both officers that the Parker police should have shot him and that he intended to commit suicide by cop on the night of the report,” the arrest affidavit said.

Tatum said after the incident, Garlington had little recollection of what had happened. She said Garlington’s mother requested he be given mental health support after serving his jail sentence, but no such support was given by the county.

Garlington was also charged with criminal mischief in Douglas County in 2021, though that charge was later dismissed, according to court records.

Michelle Garcia, Garlington’s mother, said in an interview with 9News that her family has repeatedly tried to get him treatment for mental health struggles, and said she called the 988 crisis line for help last week ahead of the shooting incident.

“Generally, he would not hurt anybody. He would get really sad and want to hurt himself,” Garcia said.

When Garlington found himself in crisis again last week and was hurting himself the day before the shooting, Garcia said she tried to take him to a mental health facility in Aurora for a five-day treatment program but was turned away, told to try a bigger hospital.

“I don’t understand how that wasn’t enough for them to put a hold on him,” Garcia said. “And keep him because if they had, then none of this would have happened.” A call to Garlington’s psychiatrist also went unanswered, Garcia said. She said she tried everything to get her son help.

Tatum described Garlington as a loving and caring person and a dog lover with several of his own. She questioned his mental state at the time of the incident, and said he normally would have never attempted to hurt someone else.

“He was always a harm to himself,” Tatum said. “So for him to have done this, I know that something was wrong.”

Both Garcia and Tatum said they feel devastated for the responding officers, especially the injured officer and the police dog.

“People lose their lives, officers are injured. You know, the poor canine, it’s just, it’s not fair for anybody. There’s so many victims just because our system will not help people. It needs to change,” Garcia said. “Something has got to change.”

The Denver Gazette’s news partners 9NEWS contributed to this report.