Aurora police chief Todd Chamberlain confirms that Rajon Belt-Stubblefield, a 37-year-old Black man, was armed and threw his gun into the grass before confronting an officer during a failed traffic stop on Saturday night. Belt-Stubblefield crashed into two vehicles while fleeing from police, prompting a rapid sequence of events that led to the officer shooting him as he approached. The chief described the three-minute encounter, emphasizing that the officer acted in response to Belt-Stubblefield’s escalating behavior.
While the officer’s identity remains undisclosed, Chamberlain noted that threats were made against him and his family. The police department has yet to release body-camera footage of the incident pending a review by the victim’s family, although still images from the video show the officer with his weapon drawn. Aurora City Council member Alison Coombs criticized the department’s narrative as biased against Belt-Stubblefield, highlighting existing community distrust stemming from past incidents of excessive force.
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