DENVER (KDVR) — Police in Denver shot and killed a man who they say was wielding a knife and attacked his own family member.
Police were called to the 2000 block of North Oneida Street on Monday night. Investigators say the man was preventing two family members from leaving the home.
“A supervisor on scene was trained in negotiations and was among officers trying to communicate with the suspect,” a Denver Police Department spokesperson said.
“Officers on scene also had critical incident training,” the spokesperson added.
But the Crisis Negotiation Unit, which specializes in these types of crises, was called but did not arrive in time, according to the police chief.
“While they were waiting for the negotiators to arrive the suspect began assaulting one of the individuals being held inside with a knife,” Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said.
Police were called to the home at 8:30 p.m. Thomas said officers had to shoot the man to save the lives of other family members, one of whom was seriously hurt.
Crisis negotiation teams can take time to respond
The chief explained why the crisis team was not able to help in time.
“There are a number of folks that are members of our crisis negotiation team. They live in all different parts of the metro area. So they need to recover their gear and respond to the scene and gather information,” Thomas said.
The teams often need extra time to get a search warrant for what can be a volatile situation.
“Any time you call a special unit like crisis negotiation or SWAT, they are not going to get there immediately,” retired police officer Jim Ponzi said.
Officers say time can help when trying to de-escalate dangerous situations.
“They want to be able to strategically produce an emotional response to get through to them. It can be very long. Some of these things take hours and hours,” police procedural expert James Allbee said.
On Tuesday, a person who answered the door at the home where the man was killed said the family had no comment at this time.
The shooting will now undergo a joint investigation that will be overseen by Denver’s Office of the Independent Monitor.