AURORA, Colo. — Aurora police have released a series of videos captured on body-worn camera, surveillance video and witness cellphones that show the events that led up to the fatal shooting of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield on Aug. 30.
The release came just hours after Belt-Stubblefield’s family and their team of attorneys held a news conference, saying the video shows “unjustifiable” and “excessive use of force.” Aurora police can release body camera video to the public 72 hours after the family has viewed it.
The body camera video shows roughly three minutes before and three minutes after shots were fired. The encounter between the officer and Belt-Stubblefield spans about 85 seconds from his first command to when the officer pulled the trigger.
- Warning: The body camera video contains profane language and graphic imagery that could be offensive to some viewers. The video below shows the footage as it was released by Aurora police and was not edited by Denver7. Watch with caution:
Aurora police did not issue any new comment on the video release, instead referring Denver7 to comments made Sept. 2 by Police Chief Todd Chamberlain, in which he defended the officer and said he took several steps to de-escalate the situation. An attorney for Belt-Stubblefield’s family claimed Friday that the officer “could’ve very easily taken him into custody without hurting him.”
The incident began when an Aurora officer tried to pull Belt-Stubblefield over for a “routine” traffic stop, the chief said Sept. 2. We still don’t know why the officer was trying to stop Belt-Stubblefield, but Chamberlain had mentioned it was for either speeding or driving under the influence.
Belt-Stubblefield fled from the officer and crashed into a pair of cars at the intersection of 6th Avenue and Billings Street. The video released Friday begins in the seconds before that crash.
Parts of the ensuing confrontation are captured on surveillance video from the Sinclair gas station at that intersection, a nearby traffic camera, dashcam video from a driver and a pair of cellphone videos in addition to the officer’s body camera. Denver7 has reviewed all of the footage.
The officer, who has not been officially identified, approached Belt-Stubblefield’s car with his gun drawn. He made multiple demands for Belt-Stubblefield to put his hands in the air. Belt-Stubblefield disregarded those commands, got out of his car and walked toward the sidewalk.
At that point, about 14 seconds after the initial command, the officer tried to tackle or apprehend Belt-Stubblefield and was unsuccessful. It’s during that first physical contact that Belt-Stubblefield apparently tosses a handgun into the grass nearby.
Roughly 50 more seconds passed between the initial contact and the moment Belt-Stubblefield was shot three times. In those 50 seconds, Belt-Stubblefield could be heard telling two onlookers, one of whom is his son, to “get that [expletive]” while gesturing toward the grassy area where the gun was apparently thrown. The officer can be heard on body camera telling Belt-Stubblefield or the onlookers to “get away from that [expletive] gun."
Belt-Stubblefield advanced toward the officer as the officer backed away, gun drawn, for an approximately 50-foot distance down the 6th Avenue sidewalk. During his retreat, the officer makes multiple commands to “get on the ground,” at one point warning Belt-Stubblefield: “I’ll shoot you.”
In the seconds before he’s shot, Belt-Stubblefield said at least six times, “Are you ready for this?” as his son could be heard saying, “Dad, chill!” and “officer, chill!” and the officer tells him to “get on the ground.”
The officer backs into the roadway as Belt-Stubblefield continues his advance. After retreating roughly four steps onto 6th Avenue, the officer shoots Belt-Stubblefield twice in the shoulder. He then fires a third shot that hits Belt-Stubblefield in the head.
The ensuing moments have been a point of contention in the two weeks since the shooting. Witnesses have told Denver7 the officer refused to render aid. Chamberlain said aid was not “allowed for based upon the actions of the individuals around and even based upon the actions of the suspect.”
Footage of the exchange shows the officer standing over Belt-Stubblefield’s body with his gun drawn for roughly 30 seconds before he holsters the gun and turns the body on its side. About a minute after shots were fired, a woman claiming to be an ER professional offers the officer gauze and a tourniquet, to which the officer says “No, it’s not a tourniquet kind of thing.”
Several onlookers can be heard shouting at the officer, but none of them seemed to approach the officer.
Paramedics arrived roughly two minutes after shots were fired to render aid, and another officer who arrived at the scene took the involved officer to Aurora Police headquarters.
In their press conference Friday, Belt-Stubblefield’s family members and attorneys did not give a detailed interpretation of the sequence of events, but said Belt-Stubblefield’s death was due to the “aggression” of the police officer and the “unnecessary” third shot that was fired while Belt-Stubblefield was stopped and possibly even stepping back.
Arthur Porter, a senior pastor at New Nation Church in Aurora – of which Belt-Stubblefield was a member – attributed Belt-Stubblefield’s actions to his being shaken by the car crash that preceded the police encounter.
“He had just suffered from a violent car accident, and his mental and emotional stability was not there,” Porter said. “He was incapable of responding to the aggression of the police officer.”
- Watch the entire news conference with Belt-Stubblefields family and attorneys in the video player below:
Civil rights attorney Milo Schwab blamed the shooting on a “a deep culture of racism” at the Aurora Police Department, which entered into a five-year consent decree agreement in 2021 after the death of Elijah McClain and has faced criticism over alleged police brutality as recently as this spring, when an officer shot and killed an unarmed Black man, Kilyn Lewis.
“This is a police department with a deep culture of racism, a deep culture of bias and a deep culture of using force instead of their words,” Schwab said. “We're here yet again, planning a funeral for someone we shouldn't be.”
Attorneys accused Chamberlain of inserting opinion and trying to “shape the narrative” immediately following the shooting.
For his part, Chamberlain promised a thorough and transparent investigation during a press briefing in the hours after the shooting.
“We are going to do everything, both internal and external, to make sure that this investigation is transparent, it is 100% valid, and it is factual,” Chamberlain said on Aug. 30.
The 18th Judicial Critical Incident Response Team is conducting an independent investigation of the incident. APD said it is conducting its own “parallel administrative review.”
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