LASALLE, Colo. — Body camera video obtained by 9NEWS shows the moments before a LaSalle Police officer shot and killed a man in a confrontation that began when officers became suspicious of a double-parked car.
Weld County prosecutors charged Erik Hernandez with one count of second-degree murder after he shot Juston Reffel in the parking lot of the town's Family Dollar store on May 3.
Hernandez was on his third day with the department and was training with veteran LaSalle Police Officer Sam Johnson. The pair saw what they determined to be a suspicious vehicle parked at the store at 165 S. 2nd St.
The Dodge Magnum had been backed into a parking spot, was double-parked and had recently been painted unprofessionally, a criminal indictment said. There was no record for the out-of-state plates that were on the car.
Hernandez initially suggested either towing the car or placing a warning sticker in its window. Johnson suggested boxing the Magnum in with their cruiser and going into the store.
"A roller paint job on that car? With that headlight? That’s suspicious," Johnson can be heard on the body camera video saying. "You have every reason to start questioning somebody about that."
CONTENT WARNING: This raw body camera video contains images of a fatal shooting and profanity.
The officers spoke with the store's employees, who said no one who worked there drove the car, according to the indictment. Hernandez and Johnson began walking down an aisle, looking for the Magnum's driver, the indictment says.
Reffel and two other people were in the back of the store, and when Reffel saw the officers approaching, he walked to the emergency exit and pressed on the door, which set off the store's alarm, the indictment says. Reffel then ran toward the front of the store, according to the indictment.
Hernandez and Johnson went to the emergency exit and looked outside. When they didn't see anyone, they ran back through the store and out into the parking lot.
Hernandez yelled at Reffel to get out of the car as Reffel put it into reverse and backed up several feet, the indictment says. Reffel put the car into drive and began to pull out of the parking spots. Hernandez then fired four rounds, the video shows.
Reffel drove away and crashed into the rear of a vehicle in the 100 block of Church Court. He was taken to North Colorado Medical Center where he was declared dead, according to the indictment.
An autopsy showed Reffel died from a single gunshot to his torso, the indictment says. Reffel's death was determined to be a homicide.
The indictment reads, "The Defendant [Hernandez] acted knowingly with respect to his conduct described above and was not justified in the actions he took pursuant to the affirmative defense of peace officers use of deadly physical force."
LaSalle Police Chief Dave Arnold said he believed his officers followed department policies and protocols – at least up until the shooting itself.
"The officers on scene did what they did and they have their reasons for it," he told 9NEWS on Tuesday.
He said since the shooting, the department has added additional de-escalation and crisis intervention trainings.
The department fired Hernandez when the indictment came out. Johnson is back on the job, Arnold said.
"I don't think the shooting should've happened," Arnold said.
But he said he can't speak to whether Hernandez felt endangered.
"I can't speak to his perspective," he said.
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