Aurora police: Kilyn Lewis shot blind, 63-year-old man
FILE PHOTO: Former Denver Public Schools board member Auon’tai Anderson holds his hands up with a phone in his left hand as he talks to Aurora City Council members on Monday, June 24, about the shooting of Kilyn Lewis by an Aurora police officer. Anderson is mimicking the way Lewis looked when he was shot, as seen in body camera footage released by the department.
Screengrab from Aurora City Council meeting
Even as protesters and the lawyers representing the family Kilyn Lewis — who was killed by the Aurora police in May — sought to portray his death as part of a pattern that included Elijah McClain and others, there are major differences in the cases.
Notably, McClain was walking home in August 2019 when officers stopped and physically subdued him in an encounter. Later, paramedics gave him the sedative ketamine.
Meanwhile, arrests and court records obtained by The Denver Gazette show that Lewis was wanted for a first-degree murder attempt, and the police were out to arrest him on May 23, the day he was shot and killed.
McClain had no criminal history prior to his encounter with the police.
Lewis’ criminal record showed a history of violent crimes.
May 5 shooting injures legally blind man
On May 5, several weeks before Lewis was shot, the Denver police had responded to a call about about parties shooting at each other from vehicles in the area of 48th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard around 11:30 a.m.
When they arrived at the scene, officers found a 63-year-old legally blind man suffering from four gunshot wounds to his right shoulder and back, according to arrest records.
The man said he was taking his morning walk when he heard gunshots and felt pain, according to the heavily-redacted arrest warrant application filed by the Denver Police for Lewis. The department did not respond to The Denver Gazette’s questions as to the why the affidavit was heavily redacted.
Investigators began reviewing nearby surveillance footage and found that there appeared to be an argument between multiple parties outside of an area. The name of the place was redacted.
Three vehicles then left the scene, including a red Chevrolet Monte Carlo that was reportedly driven by Lewis.
The Monte Carlo allegedly followed the vehicles to an area where police later found “several spent cartridge casings.”
A witness told police that “everyone was being cool, but then a black Tahoe arrived and a male from inside showed a gun and demanded people come out of the store to fight,” according to the arrest affidavit.
A witness — it’s not clear who — identified the driver of the Monte Carlo as Lewis.
Camera footage showed the Monte Carlo driving south on Colorado Boulevard service road around 11:30 a.m. and as the car to to 48th Avenue, the lone driver held what appeared to be a gun. The hand moved across the passenger seat.
“It is at this time that pedestrians in the area began to scatter,” the arrest affidavit said.
The car then “rapidly” left the scene.
Based on what he learned, the detective in the case sought the arrest warrant for Lewis for an attempt to commit first-degree murder.
Aurora, Denver officers followed suspect for two days
Both Aurora and Denver SWAT teams began surveillance on Lewis and followed him for two days before the encounter.
Officers from both departments confronted him outside an apartment complex on South Ironton Street in Aurora on the morning of May 23. Lewis was working on a red vehicle that appeared to be the Monte Carlo noted in the affidavit.
As the officers demanded Lewis get on the ground, he walked toward the driver’s side door, according to a bodycam footage released by the Aurora Police Department.
Lewis reached into his back pocket and pulled out a cellphone. The Aurora police said he did not follow orders to hit the ground.
Ofc. Michael Dieck then fired a shot into Lewis’ abdomen, dropping him to the ground, as he exclaimed, “I don’t have nothing.”
Lewis died two days later in a hospital.
The shooting is under investigation by a Critical Incident Response Team and Dieck is on paid leave, following the department’s protocol.
SWAT officer involved in previous shootings deemed justified by the district attorney
Dieck, a 12-year-veteran of the force and eight-year Aurora SWAT team member who shot Lewis, was involved in two other shootings and one arrest that led to the conviction of another Aurora police officer.
Tyrell Tyrone Jones was shot by Dieck on April 9, 2018. He was wanted on suspicion of attempted murder after allegedly shooting at a woman twice on April 8, according to a decision letter from the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Dieck allegedly heard a gunshot from within the back of the taxi Jones was found in and fired into the rear driver’s side window. Dieck then said he saw Jones in the backseat with a handgun pointed at him and fired several more times, injuring him.
The district attorney’s office ruled the shooting justified.
The second shooting occurred on July 18, 2022, when Dieck and two other officers shot and killed Fabian Perry, a man wanted in Georgia for homicide charges.
Dieck and the rest of the Aurora SWAT team found Perry at 438 N. Oswego St, holding a rifle and streaming the standoff on Facebook live. The officers then entered the home and shot Perry, killing him.
The three officers’ actions were deemed justified by the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
On July 23, 2021, Dieck was involved in the arrest of Kyle Vinson, which led to a criminal trial against a former officer, John Haubert, according to the Aurora police.
Haubert hit Vinson 12 times with the butt of his gun during the arrest, drawing blood from wounds that required stiches. The incident led to charges of assault and misconduct. Haubert was found not guilty following a 2024 trial.
Dieck tazed the man in the leg after Haubert had already struck him, according to body camera footage.
Dieck was not charged.
The department’s force review board reviewed the use of force on Aug. 10, 2021 and determined the actions were “objectively reasonable,” a police spokesperson said.
Lewis was previously arrested for robbery, child abuse
Lewis was arrested in 2004 and again in 2005 on felony charges of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, according to court records.
He was sentenced to six years in the Department of Corrections and four years of intensive supervision. Lewis was arrested on burglary charges in 2015, pleaded guilty the next year and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Court records also showed he was arrested on child abuse charges in 2005 and received a four-year prison sentence and three years of intense supervision probation. It’s unclear if that sentence was served concurrently with the robbery conviction.
Despite his criminal background and the fact police were searching for him on an attempted murder warrant, the family’s attorneys argued that should not make a difference in the way the SWAT handled the situation.
“He stood presumed innocent. They observed him for two days and he was unarmed,” Siddhartha Rathod, attorney and partner at Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC, who is representing Lewis’ family, said following a press conference on June 20. “What someone did 10 years ago doesn’t justify an officer shooting an unarmed man.”
Protesters had disrupted council meetings in Aurora, demanding that authorities fire Dieck and charge him with murder.
Auon’tai Anderson, a former Denver Public Schools board member and an organizer of the protests, declined to comment.
Anderson, who had accompanied Elijah McClain’s mom to several court hearings for cases charging police officers and paramedics, had compared Lewis’ death to the McClain case.