The Aurora Police Department SWAT officer who shot and killed unarmed Kilyn Lewis in May during an attempted SWAT arrest has been cleared after the district attorney determined he used the appropriate amount of force.

Ofc. Michael Dieck — a 12-year-veteran of the Aurora Police Department and eight-year Aurora SWAT team member — was deemed justified in the shooting and killing of 37-year-old Lewis on May 23 during an attempted arrest in Aurora, according to a decision letter from 18th Judicial District Attorney John Kellner to new Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain.

“I find that there is no criminal liability on the part of Officer Michael Dieck stemming from this OIS (officer-involved shooting). Criminal charges, therefore, are not appropriate or warranted related to the officer’s use of deadly force,” Kellner said in the letter.

Lewis’ family, who has conducted protests and spoke at almost every Aurora City Council meeting since the shooting, expressed outrage at the decision.

“It has been 141 days since the Aurora Police Department murdered Kilyn E. Lewis,” according to the statement, sent by family representative Auon’tai Anderson. “For nearly five months, our family has been left in the dark, waiting for answers. Without advance notice or any communication, we learned through the media that District Attorney John Kellner had released his findings, a 20-page document made public without our knowledge or opportunity to review. The lack of respect and regard for our family is staggering as we have been present and begging for answers and transparency since we lost Kilyn.”

The shooting occurred more than two weeks after Lewis was connected to an attempted homicide in Denver on May 5 in the area of 48th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard around 11:30 a.m.

When Denver Police Department officers arrived at the scene, they found a 63-year-old legally blind man suffering from four gunshot wounds to his right shoulder and back, according to arrest records. Lewis had allegedly driven up to a group of people in a parking lot and fired a handgun after an argument, hitting the nearby civilian.

Both Aurora and Denver SWAT teams began surveillance on Lewis and followed him for two days before the encounter on May 23, acting on an arrest warrant for attempt to commit first-degree murder.

Officers from both departments confronted him outside an apartment complex on South Ironton Street in Aurora. Lewis was working on a red vehicle that appeared in security camera footage connected to the May 5 shooting.

Four officers, including Dieck, exited vehicles with weapons drawn to arrest Lewis around 12 p.m., according to the letter. Following commands to drop to the ground, Lewis walked toward the driver’s side door and pulled a cellphone and tube with a fruit snack in it from his back right pocket.

In a matter of seven seconds, the incident concluded with Dieck firing a shot into Lewis’ abdomen, dropping him to the ground. He later died in the hospital.

“I don’t have nothin’! I don’t have nothin’!” Lewis could be heard saying in the released body camera footage.

While in the hospital, blood samples found the presence of ecgonine and benzoylecgonine — metabolites indicative of cocaine use — and traces of illicitly produced fentanyl, according to the letter.

Cocaine was found in Lewis’ pants after the shooting, but no gun was found at the scene.

In follow-up interviews conducted by the 18th Judicial District’s Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT), Dieck claimed that he believed Lewis pulled a firearm from his pocket, causing him to fire at the suspect, according to the letter.

As the officers approached the scene, Dieck realized his positioning would place him as the first person to contact Lewis. Therefore, per training, he put down the nonfatal 40 mm baton launcher and picked up his pistol, he told investigators during interviews.

When Dieck saw Lewis rummaging in his pocket, he believed he was pulling a gun because, based on his experience, “relatively few people who illegally carry guns utilize a holster, but instead carry their guns in the waistband or a pocket,” the letter said. He also claimed it wasn’t common for someone to start reaching into their pants when approached by officers randomly, instead usually freezing from shock.

The other officers involved supported Dieck’s fear that Lewis was pulling a weapon in their interviews, according to the letter.

One of the officers noted the he believed Lewis was going to fight or resist, based on the background information. He also saw Lewis’ initial actions in response to the officers, his apparent lack of alarm and his noncompliance with officer commands as “unusual.”

Kellner noted that strange behavior as one of the main reasons in declining to press criminal charges against Dieck in the shooting.

“Based on all the evidence presented by the CIRT investigation and all the applicable circumstances, including Mr. Lewis’ behavior upon being confronted by police, Officer Dieck’s awareness of the violent offense Mr. Lewis was wanted for, and Mr. Lewis’ physical actions, Officer Dieck possessed an objectively reasonable belief that the object in Mr. Lewis’ right hand was a gun that he was bringing to bear on the officers,” Kellner said in the letter.

Prior to being cleared in the killing of Lewis, Dieck was involved in two other shootings and one arrest that led to the conviction of another Aurora police officer.

Dieck was not charged in the two officer-involved shootings.

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 in that incident, either.

Following the decision letter, Dieck remains on restricted duty on a non-public facing role with the department, according to a spokesperson with the department. The investigation into the use of force by the Aurora Police Department’s Force Investigation Unit, as well as the administrative review of the incident, are ongoing.

Protests and pushback

Following the shooting and the release of the body camera footage in June, attorneys with Lewis’ family questioned the justification of the Aurora Police Department’s actions during the incident.

“You raise your hand with a phone, as a Black man, that gets you killed in Aurora,” Edward Hopkins Jr., attorney and part of Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC, said during a press conference on June 20.

“The Aurora Police Department owes the family an explanation,” Hopkins Jr. continued. “I’m not talking about an explanation for why they killed Kilyn Lewis. We all know that was wrong… They owe us an explanation for why they didn’t arrest Officer Dieck on the spot.”

Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC no longer represents the Lewis family, the law firm told The Denver Gazette Friday.

LaRhonda Jones, mother of Kilyn Lewis, spoke during public comment periods of Aurora City Council meetings regularly.

Over the past few months, she and others spoke at City Council meetings to push for accountability in the death of Lewis. The council opted to finish some of those meetings via video conference after they were interrupted by protests.

“The decisions made by the leaders of Aurora are a grave injustice,” according to Friday’s family statement. “Just like those before us who have been faced with these tragedies, our fight will continue without disruption. This decision is not only a failure of justice but a message that the life of an unarmed Black man like Kilyn means nothing to the very system that is supposed to protect us.”

Anderson, a former Denver Public Schools board member, will join Lewis family members for a press conference and rally at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Aurora Municipal Building before the City Council meeting starts.