Before Cops Killed Homeowner, He Fought Fierce Intruder

Stepson says officers 'shot the first thing they saw moving'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 2, 2018 8:53 AM CDT
Before Cops Killed Homeowner, He Fought Fierce Intruder
On Tuesday, a police officer exits the home of a man who was shot and killed by an officer in Aurora, Colo.   (Philip B. Poston/The Aurora Sentinel via AP)

If Richard Black's Purple Heart and Bronze Star weren't example enough of his bravery, stepson Chad Hayashi says his last act summed it up. According to Hayashi, the 73-year-old Vietnam veteran fatally shot a naked intruder found choking his 11-year-old grandson, also nude, in the bathtub of their home in Aurora, Colo., around 1:30am Monday, only to be killed seconds later by police. While police will give their version of events at a Thursday press conference, "they shot the first thing they saw moving," Hayashi tells ABC News. Describing a strange woman awaking him, claiming her son was on drugs and had his boy, Hayashi says Black "shot the guy twice in the torso" with a legally owned weapon after a struggle that sprayed water across the bathroom. Black, who'd had a vase smashed over his head, then "went around the corner" and was shot.

It was only after a pause that police officers identified themselves, Hayashi adds. He says he saw his stepfather face down on the floor in handcuffs as Hayashi was led from the house and was later told Black had ignored requests to drop his weapon. But "there was no warning at all" and "all the officer's spent cartridges were outside the house. So, they shot through the open door," Hayashi says, calling for the release of bodycam videos. Per the Denver Channel, the man Black killed has been identified as 26-year-old Dajon Harper, who twice had charges of first-degree murder dropped or reduced. More information is expected at the press conference, but Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz has hinted that the police narrative won't be in line with Hayashi's account. Much of the information shared already "has been inaccurate," he said this week. (More police shooting stories.)

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