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Police to release body camera footage of officer shooting 14-year-old Jor’Dell Richardson in Colorado

Laurie Littlejohn, center, the mother of 14-year-old shooting victim Jor’Dell Da’Shawn Richardson, with her boyfriend Larry Douglas, right, gets a hug from friend Tchalla Bereal, left, outside the Aurora police station before going inside to demand body camera footage and the name of the officer who shot their son, on June 5 in Aurora, Colorado. The family of Jor’Dell Richardson gathered at the station to ask for more details regarding the shooting death of the 14-year-old. (Tribune News Service)
By Elise Schmelzer Denver Post

DENVER – Aurora police on Friday will release body camera footage showing an officer fatally shooting a 14-year-old boy suspected of participating in a robbery of a convenience store.

Family members of the 14-year-old, Jor’Dell Richardson, and their lawyers watched the footage at Aurora police headquarters Tuesday, police officials and family representatives said.

State law mandates that law enforcement agencies wait 72 hours after showing body camera footage to the family of someone killed by police before releasing it publicly. Aurora police Chief Art Acevedo will hold a news conference Friday when the video is released, according to a news release.

According to police, officers chased a group of teenagers who ran from a convenience store near the intersection of East Eighth Avenue and Dayton Street. A sergeant on patrol noticed the group and asked for backup because the teens were wearing medical masks and sweatshirts, a news release from the police department said. Police took two teens into custody and others fled in a car that police said was stolen.

It’s unclear what happened after officers chased Richardson into an alley. The department has released little information except to say Richardson was armed and that an officer shot him “during a struggle to take him into custody.” In a news conference the day of the shooting, Acevedo said it was difficult to determine in the body camera footage what happened after an officer took Richardson to the ground.

After the shooting, investigators determined that at least one of the teenagers threatened the convenience store clerk with a gun and they took several vape canisters, according to police.

The department has not named the officer who shot Richardson. The officer has been placed on paid administrative leave while the 18th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team is investigating the shooting.

Richardson’s family on Monday called on police to release the videos and said the 14-year-old had never been in trouble with police. He had just graduated eighth grade.