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Contemporary Justice Review
Issues in Criminal, Social, and Restorative Justice
ISSN: 1028-2580 (Print) 1477-2248 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gcjr20
Exploring the two trigger fingers thesis: racial and
ethnic differences in officer involved shootings
Robert J. Durán & Oralia Loza
To cite this article: Robert J. Durán & Oralia Loza (2017) Exploring the two trigger fingers
thesis: racial and ethnic differences in officer involved shootings, Contemporary Justice Review,
20:1, 71-94, DOI: 10.1080/10282580.2016.1262771
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10282580.2016.1262771
Published online: 26 Dec 2016.
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CONTEMPORARY JUSTICE REVIEW, 2017
VOL. 20, NO. 1, 7194
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10282580.2016.1262771
Exploring the two trigger ngers thesis: racial and ethnic
dierences in ocer involved shootings
Robert J. Durána and Oralia Lozab
aDepartment of Sociology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA; bDepartment of Public Health Sciences,
University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA
ABSTRACT
This article provides a comparative, qualitative and quantitative,
analysis of ocer-involved shootings of residents who were white,
black, or Latino in the City and County of Denver, Colorado from
1983 to 2012. This research project combined district attorney
summaries, police shooting les, and police shooting video
interviews to understand the patterns involving 213 ocer-involved
shootings resulting in 103 deaths. Thematically, the dierences by
race and ethnicity are outlined by three themes including (1) suspect
characteristics, (2) ocer characteristics, and (3) contextual factors.
The ndings highlight similarities and dierences between incident
narratives and compare these observations with aggregated statistics
to explore whether law enforcement ocers possess one trigger nger
for whites and another for blacks and Latinos. This comprehensive
analysis of racial and ethnic dierences in ocer-involved shootings
indicates the intersectionality of suspect and ocer characteristics
along with contextual factors.
Nationwide, controversial ocer-involved shootings continue to replicate the greater occur-
rence of young black males who are shot and killed by police ocers compared to white
males. Every study examining racial disparities has found black overrepresentation (Alvarez,
1992; Fyfe, 1981, 1982; Geller & Karales, 1981; Harring, Platt, Speiglman, & Takagi, 1977; Inn,
Wheeler, & Sparling, 1977; Kobler, 1975; Meyer, 1980; Robin, 1963; Takagi, 1974). In 1998, law
enforcement ocers shot blacks at a rate four times greater than they shot whites. In 1978,
the rate was eight times higher (Brown & Langan, 2001). Reasons for this disparity has often
included blaming blacks for disproportionate involvement in crime, particularly violent
crime, and arguing the communities for which blacks often live contain higher levels of
illegal activities (Goldkamp, 1976; MacDonald, Kaminski, Alpert, & Tennenbaum, 2001; Robin,
1963; Waegel, 1984). In response to these dierential outcomes, Takagi (1974) oered an
alternative explanation: ‘It is the actual experiences behind statistics like these that suggest
that police have one trigger nger for whites and another for Blacks’ (p. 30). To support this
argument, Takagi examined justiable homicides from the Vital Statistics in the United States
and compared these numbers to male civilians ten years and over. In addition, he incorpo-
rated the literature on dierential policing of the black community from the 1950s to the
© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
KEYWORDS
Use of force; law
enforcement; racial and
ethnic differences; qualitative
analysis; quantitative
analysis; violence
ARTICLE HISTORY
Received 1 May 2015
Accepted19 April 2016
CONTACT Robert J. Durán rduran@utk.edu
72 R. J. DURÁN AND O. LOZA
early 1970s. Forty-two years have passed from when Takagi’s article was printed. Are we
closer to answering which racial and ethnic disparities exist in ocer-involved shootings
and possible reasons why?
Most researchers have used national data sets that have not provided the opportunity
to examine qualitative dierences based on actual case studies. The data in this article covers
three decades, 1983 to 2012, of law enforcement shootings in the City and County of Denver,
Colorado in an attempt to explore three themes (suspect characteristics, ocer character-
istics, and contextual factors) that highlight dierences in ocer-involved shootings involv-
ing whites, blacks, and Latinos and possible reasons for these violent encounters. Although
Takagi was limited to Vital Statistics, which along with other national data sets on ocer-in-
volved shootings have been critiqued as problematic for understanding law enforcement
shootings (Fyfe, 2002; Sherman & Langworthy, 1979). This analysis however was based on
218 shootings. The researchers gathered the data by compiling district attorney summaries,
police shooting les, video interviews of ocers and witnesses, and newspaper articles. The
authors thoroughly reviewed each shooting incident to rst provide a narrative outlining
racial and ethnic patterns and second by coding the data to conduct bivariate analyses to
compare how these patterns merge with other individuals of a similar racial and ethnic
background. Denver provides a unique setting to study these patterns because it had a
proportionate black population similar to the national average and twice the size of a Latino
population. Although whites were the numerical and political majority, the city has a racial
and ethnic history of protest for improving rights for minority groups (Vigil, 1999).
Racial and ethnic dierences in ocer-involved shootings
Many scholarly studies have determined racial and ethnic dierences in the enforcement of
laws. From trac stops, searches, and use of force (Durose, Smith, & Langan, 2007; Gelman,
Fagan, & Kiss, 2005; Golub, Johnson, & Dunlap, 2007) to terry stops, verbal abuse, and viola-
tions of human rights (Human Rights Watch, 1998), policing in the United States continues
to face many obstacles in demonstrating color-blindness. Two previous studies have outlined
the strained relationship between law enforcement and the black and Latino community in
Denver, Colorado (Bayley & Mendelsohn, 1968; Vigil, 1999). Bayley and Mendelsohn (1968)
reported, ‘The police seem to play a role in the life of minority people out of all proportion
to the role they play in the lives of dominant majority’ (p. 109). These researchers interviewed
police ocers and minority group leaders. Spanish-surnamed individuals were more critical
than whites or blacks regarding policing in their own neighborhoods. More than one-fourth
of the respondents thought their treatment by police was unfriendly or prejudiced whereas
only 4% of whites reported similar feelings. The researchers found that despite higher levels
of negative interactions and police brutality, minority group members were less likely to le
complaints. Nearly half of the Spanish-surnamed individuals believed it would not do any
good whereas only 20% of whites thought their complaints would go unsupported. Denver’s
Chicano historian, Ernesto Vigil (1999) provided an overview of numerous instances of bru-
tality, corruption, and cases of deadly force that distanced community members from the
police and pushed leaders to create advocacy groups. In fact, community problems with
the police was one of the primary concerns that resulted in the development of one of the
nation’s largest and most inuential Chicano civil rights organizations: The Crusade for
Justice.
CONTEMPORARY JUSTICE REVIEW 73
Despite a growing body of literature examining day-to-day policing in communities
across the country (Urbina, 2012; Walker & Katz, 2013), very little of this research has exam-
ined the use of deadly force (Fyfe, 1988). Goldkamp (1976) stated two belief perspectives
could largely explain disparities in ocer-involved shootings. First, disproportionality due
to a quasi-labeling view, which argues dierential policing and oppression of minorities
aected death rates. Takagi’s (1974) research would be included in this category in addition
to scholars who have remained critical of policing practices (Bass, 2001; Kelley, 2000; Russell-
Brown, 2004). Kelley (2000) historically outlined how the police have often acted as an
occupying army in black and Latino communities. From slave patrols, black codes, lynchings,
and race riots to police homicides, brutality, COINTELPRO (counter intelligence programs),
and urban uprisings, ocers have been central participants in dierential treatment. Until
the implementation of systematic change, Kelley recommended dismantling police depart-
ments and the criminal justice system. Bass (2001) corroborated upon these themes when
she outlined how racial social control has developed into a new Jim Crow involving a war
on drugs and quality of life policing that continues to have disproportionate impact upon
blacks.
The second belief perspective oered by Goldkamp (1976) was disproportionality due
to involvement in violence, which argues minority groups were more likely to be involved
in crime and violence, which leads to a higher number of use of force encounters with law
enforcement (MacDonald et al., 2001; Sorensen, Marquart, & Brock, 1993). Robin (1963), one
of the earliest researchers’ to nd blacks were overrepresented as shooting victims reported
these individuals were resisting arrest and given adequate warning before being shot. He
argued, ‘… all these things make it clear that criminals killed by police ocers generally are
responsible for their own death’ (p. 231). Robin’s analysis then extended beyond Philadelphia
to nine other cities where he found blacks 6 to 29 times more likely to be shot by the police
than whites. Meyer (1980) studied shootings in Los Angeles and found that when comparing
shooting incidents by objective measures (arrest, attack, and crime rates) and environment
(level of fear) individuals precipitated the shooting result by disobeying ocer orders or
appearing to reach for weapons. A greater proportion of blacks matched these patterns;
however, the perception of reaching for a weapon was often unfounded as blacks were less
likely than Latinos or whites to possess a weapon.
Fyfe (1988) drew upon his extensive number of research studies and the literature when
he examined the ndings for who is more likely to be shot by the police. He reported, ‘Only
the ingenuous and the naïve can conclude from these gures that racism is not involved in
police use of deadly force’ (p. 190). Rather than a societal anomaly, he argued racial disparities
exist in a wide range of social phenomenon including life expectancy, incarceration rates,
etc. Thus, rather than argue institutional racism as Takagi or the second belief perspective,
Fyfe advocated organizational features were more important in shootings involving ocer
discretion (elective shootings) (1982, 1988). He found blacks more likely to be shot in elective
encounters than whites and this could be changed by policies and training. Moreover, white
ocers were not alone in these shootings but also a higher proportion of black ocers due
to where they lived, communities they policed, and placement in special units (Fyfe, 1981).
Other studies have often replicated ocers of color experiencing higher rates of ocer-
involved shootings (Geller & Karales, 1981; Konstantin, 1984). White (2001) found leadership
aected whether law enforcement ocers followed policies. Although lacking real life data,
psychologists have turned to conducting virtual experiments to determine whether the
74 R. J. DURÁN AND O. LOZA
race and ethnicity of suspect inuenced the rate in which civilians, students, and police
ocers would re a weapon. Correll et al. (2007) reported that over 20 studies have found
racial bias in participants when presented with black and white targets. However, actual
police ocers in these simulated environments had quicker response times, dierentiated
better between armed and unarmed targets, and had lower levels of bias. Sadler, Correll,
Park, and Judd (2012) found ocers were more likely to shoot Latinos than Asians or whites,
but blacks were still at the greatest risk. Thus according to the organizational belief
perspective, loosely controlled policies and leadership enhanced racial and ethnic
disparities.
Missing from these three theoretical explanations for ocer-involved shooting disparities
was the role rearms play in easing the decision to use deadly force and increasing the
chances for death. Hemenway (2004) has advocated responding to gun use from a public
health approach. He argues gun violence was a modern-day public health epidemic and
changing social norms requires the use of science. Although Hemenway’s research does not
focus on ocer-involved shootings, these type of incidents continue to produce the greatest
loss of life at the hands of the criminal justice system. An average of 373 individuals per year
are killed from law enforcement ocers using rearms whereas capital punishment, which
occurs after several court hearings, averages an estimated 36 executions per year (Brown &
Langan, 2001; http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org). Although public ocials described
ocer-involved shootings as split-second decisions and the death penalty as a slow bureau-
cratic process, the small number of studies regarding the use of deadly force on residents
provides little insight into whether police ocers can drastically inuence the decision-
making period.
In this paper, we provide an analysis of ocer-involved shootings of whites, blacks, and
Latinos in the City and County of Denver. We begin by discussing the methods used in
gathering these data and the setting where these shootings occurred. We borrow from the
three theoretical explanations in an attempt to merge them with the case les to highlight
racial and ethnic disparities involving (1) suspect characteristics (quasi-labeling view), (2)
ocer characteristics (organizational features), and (3) contextual factors (environment
mixed with ocer threat). We include a randomized selection of actual cases for each racial
and ethnic group to build a narrative analysis of shooting events to provide examples along
with bivariate analyses to highlight shared outcomes. Finally, we oer a conclusion that
encourages continued research regarding racial and ethnic disparities, intersectionality, and
revisiting the two-trigger nger thesis.
Methods and setting
The research reported in this article is part of a larger, twelve year, study of police shootings
in Denver, Colorado. Archival and qualitative data were utilized to build a comprehensive
information storage of all shootings of and from law enforcement ocers within the City
and County of Denver, Colorado between 1 January 1983 and 31 December 2012. This
research project combined 202 complete les held at District Attorney (DA) oce, 198 District
Attorney Decision Letters, 37 videos involving ocers, suspects, and witness interviews
immediately after the shooting occurred. Newspaper articles were collected on 172 shoot-
ings for a total of 913 articles in addition to more than 500 articles focusing on local police
shootings in general and ocers.1
CONTEMPORARY JUSTICE REVIEW 75
Data collection
The rst author initiated the study by compiling a list of shootings available at the DA Oce.
The DA in Denver, Colorado reviews all police involved shootings to determine legal justi-
cation. Denver District Attorney Morrissey (2011) reported, ‘For more than a quarter century,
Denver has had the most open ocer-involved shooting protocol in the country’ (p. 1). The
police shooting les were open to the public for in-person review in the municipal oce
building. Included in these les were a Homicide Unit investigation conducted by the Denver
Police Department, formal voluntary statements from witnesses and ocers, autopsy reports,
an overview of crime scene evidence collected and a decision letter. The le boxes were
obtained for me by the Assistant District Attorney and were semi-organized by year. The rst
author devoted several 40-h weeks, over a period of three years, reviewing the complete
les at the DA’s oce.
The 198 District Attorney police shooting decision letters included a brief summary of
information contained in the complete le held at the DA’s oce. They ranged in length
from two to 47 pages. The DA oce provided copies of these letters to me for further review
and were valuable in developing a comprehensive database for each shooting. A small
number of decision letters (n = 21) were not available in the case le or with the Assistant
DA. The DA did not write letters in ve cases where he led criminal charges or brought the
incident before a grand jury. It is important to note, these reports provided legal justication
for shootings and the DA often condemned the suspect and outlined the reasoning used
by the ocer(s) to determine whether to use deadly force. Similar to DA decision letters,
Manager of Safety reports provided additional background information for shootings since
2003 that resulted in death. These 22 reports were benecial because they went beyond
issues of legality to provide an administrative review involving whether the ocer met
departmental policy and procedure standards. These reports were mostly supportive of
ocers, but two resulted in administrative discipline for ocers who used deadly force.
In addition to reviewing les, the rst author watched 37 police interview videos at the
DA oce of ocer-involved shooting incidents from 1988 to 2011. This author took hand-
written notes of the accounts on a notepad. Morrissey (2011) stated how the use of the
videotape interview room has included voluntary sworn statements from ocer(s) and wit-
nesses since 1983: ‘No other major city police department in the nation can make this state-
ment’ (p. 2). The researcher originally selected a random sample for review, but due to missing
videos in several les, a convenience sample was obtained. Time length in videos ranged
from 30 min to over 4 h. Police department ocials conducted individual interviews with
the ocers involved or present when the shooting occurred, witnesses, and occasionally
victims of the shooting.
The news media provided another investigative agency to pursue information regarding
ocer-involved shootings since the Denver Police Department and DA oce often work in
concert together in its fact-nding process. Although newspaper sales and controversy were
of interest to reporters and readers, many of the shootings occurring in Denver were sus-
ceptible to criticism and the DA occasionally ignored or disputed these claims in ocial
decision letters. Lawyers challenged some of the shootings in court and the media shared
some factual contradictions. To provide additional insight into police shootings, the rst
author obtained and analyzed over 1000 newspaper articles. The media complemented the
shooting les by providing additional witness accounts and information pertaining to the
shooting that was often more critical and questioning of police use of force. The local
76 R. J. DURÁN AND O. LOZA
newspapers, such as the Denver Post, The Rocky Mountain News, and Westword often com-
peted for who had the best access to in-depth versions of the shootings.2 Some shootings
received a lot of coverage whereas others very little to no coverage. For the most part indi-
vidual shooting coverage from the media were supportive of police and DA viewpoints as
captured by the research by Hirscheld and Simon (2010) whereas some of the more general
coverage was found to be more critical.
Measures
Suspect and ocer characteristics along with contextual factors of the shooting were col-
lected from various sources of information described. The following measures for suspect
characteristics were included in the analysis: the outcome (wounded, killed), age, race/eth-
nicity (white, black, Latino), gender (male, female), and foreign-born status (yes, no) of the
suspect shot were assessed. Whether records indicated, when the person was shot, alcohol
or drug use, mental health issue, criminal record, prison history, gang membership, and
suicidal ideation at the time of shooting were noted. Ocer characteristics included, the
number of ocers at scene, ocers who shot, shots red, times hit suspect as well as the
whether the ocer was on or o duty and injured during the shooting. For the rst three
ocers who red their weapon, the number of years on the force, gender (male, female),
and race/ethnicity (white, black, Asian, Latino, and Multiracial) were recorded. In terms of
contextual factors of shooting, incident level of critique (problematic, questionable, legiti-
mate), location setting (in-door, outdoors), and location details (public place, living area)
were recorded.
For each shooting, proportion of non-Hispanic white, black, and Latino residents and
residents living in poverty per census tract of shooting location, weapon used by the person
shot (none, minor objects, dangerous object, knife, vehicle, gun), way weapon was used by
the person shot (active threat, vague threat, perceived threat), time dierence between
arrival of police and shooting were described. For each case, whether a community member
initiated the contact with a police ocer whether in person or by dialing 911 (no, yes), the
person who contacted the police (self, family member, store employee, victim, partner/wife/
girlfriend, stranger observed, friend, boyfriend/husband/partner, burglar alarm). The possible
oense type of the person shot (nothing, curiosity, drug oense, interpersonal violence,
mental health, property crime, trac, previous crime), the seriousness of possible oense
type (nothing, misdemeanor, felony, capital homicide), whether it was a death penalty eli-
gible case (no, yes), or if the person shot had victimized another individual (no, yes) were
described.
Analysis
Qualitative analysis included reading over all reports and highlighting common themes,
entering these data into an excel le, and then creating overviews for each shooting based
upon all sources of data. To create a realistic overview of 218 cases of which 213 included
whites, blacks, or Latinos, computer software randomized all shooting cases by each racial
and ethnic group resulting in 12 cases or four to ve cases per group (See Table 1). The cases
produced cover a range in the number of years (1983 to 2010), types of incidents, and range
from incidents coded as problematic to legitimate.
CONTEMPORARY JUSTICE REVIEW 77
Quantitative analysis included univariate and bivariate analysis. Descriptive statistics
of all measures for suspect and ocer characteristics and contextual factors include N,
count and percent for categorical variables and N, Q1 (25th percentile), median (50th
percentile), and Q3 (75th percentile) continuous variables given that data is not normally
distributed (See Tables 2–4). Bivariate ethnic and racial dierences of the person shot and
all measures were determined with Pearson Chi-Square or Likelihood Ratio test, as appro-
priate, for categorical variables and Kruskal-Wallis test for continuous variables. Pairwise
comparisons of all measures for black and Latino versus white persons who were shot
were conducted with Pearson Chi-Square or Fisher’s Exact test, as appropriate, for cate-
gorical variables and Mann–Whitney U test for continuous variables. For both analyses,
signicant (p-value < 0.05) and marginally signicant (p-value < 0.10) ethnic and racial
dierences are noted.
Setting
As of 2015, the county of Denver had a population of 663,862 residents (United States Census
Bureau, 2016). The racial and ethnic demographics include non-Hispanic whites (53.4%),
Latinos (30.9%), blacks (10.2%), Asians (3.8%), and Native Americans (2.0%). Slightly less than
20% of residents live below poverty. Less than 16% of residents were foreign born with 66%
originating from Latin America, 17% Asia, 10% Europe, and 6% Africa. According to census
data, Denver continues to be racially, ethnically, and economically segregated (Frey & Myers,
2000; GeoLytics, Inc., 2013).
Table 1.Primary sources of data for randomly selected racial and ethnic comparisons.
W=White; B=Black; L=Latino; M=Male; F=Female.
#Name (Year)
DA decision
letter
Reviewed complete
le
Manager of safety
report
# News
articles Other sources
1 James Fleck (1997)
W M
Yes Ye s No 2 None
2 David Pratt (1992)
W M
Yes Ye s No 3 None
3 Shaun Gilman
(2003) W M
Yes Ye s No 6 None
4 Kathleen Stege
(1994) W F
Yes Ye s No 7 None
5 Joseph Ashley
(1999) B M
Yes Ye s No 4 None
6 Harrison Owens
(2005) B M
Yes Yes Yes 7 None
7 William Harper
(1983) B M
Yes Ye s No 0 None
8 Alfonso Mitchell
(1986) B M
Yes Ye s No 0 None
9 Antonio Castillo
(1988) L M
Yes Ye s No 1 None
10 Louis Melendez
(1993) L M
Yes Ye s No 3 None
11 Ralph Baca-Salcido
(2000) L M
Yes Ye s No 4 None
12 Luis Almeida Ponce
(2003) L M
Yes Ye s No 3 Observed family at
protest
78 R. J. DURÁN AND O. LOZA
Comparative racial and ethnic dierences
Determining whether police ocers had separate trigger ngers for whites, blacks, or Latinos
developed from analyzing each racial and ethnic group separately. Randomly selected cases
were utilized to develop critical race theory stories (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012). Nearly 43%
(n = 91) of all shootings from 1983 to 2012 occurring in Denver included Latinos, 33.3% white
(n = 71), and almost 24% black (n = 51). Compared to their population, police shot black
males at a rate 3.9 times more likely than white males. Latinos were often not included in
studies involving ocer-involved shootings. The Bureau of Justice Statistics study only exam-
ined blacks and whites. One earlier study found Latinos shared a similar shooting rate as
whites (Meyer, 1980). In Denver, Latinos males were shot at a rate three times greater than
white males.
The coding of 213 ocer-involved shooting cases presents narratives of actual cases that
highlight the bivariate racial and ethnic dierences that occur based on the intersection of
suspect characteristics, ocer characteristics, and contextual factors. The randomly selected
narratives capture thematic dierences such as running from ocers, shootings in the back,
quickness with which ocers’ shoot, and immediate entry search warrants. Many of these
patterns included higher reports of blacks shot while eeing an alleged burglary or robbery,
primarily by a sole police ocer who shoots the individual as they turned towards the ocer.
In terms of the thematic dierences, Latinos were occasionally similar to whites, other times
blacks, or in the middle between both racial groups. Case studies capture incidents such as
domestic violence incidents, ghts outside of clubs, elderly individuals, accidental shootings,
and ocers acting with a lack of compassion before or after a shooting.
Suspect characteristics
There were signicant ethnic and racial dierences of the person shot for the age, proportion
of foreign-born, alcohol or drug use, mental health, and reported gang membership (See
Table 2). Compared to whites (median: 26), blacks (median: 18) and Latinos (median: 22)
shot were statistically signicantly younger. The proportion of foreign-born status was higher
for Latinos (11%) compared to whites (0%). Alcohol or drug use was higher for whites (54.3%)
compared to blacks (23.5%). Mental health was reported at signicantly higher rates for
whites (15.5%) compared to blacks (2%) and Latinos (2.2%). Gang membership was not
reported for any of the white persons shot while reported for blacks (15.7%) and Latinos
(6.6%). There were marginal dierences for the proportion of those killed and reported sui-
cidal ideation. The proportion of the persons who were shot and killed was signicantly
higher for whites (57.7%) compared to blacks (37.3%) and similarly for reported suicidal
ideation (14.1 versus 2%, respectively).
For white individuals, these cases often demonstrated a greater level of restraint, delay
and occasionally compassion shown for white individuals compared to black and Latino
suspects. Case les replicate several incidents where law enforcement ocers attempted a
non-deadly outcome for white suspects. On Friday, 18 April 1997, around 11:30 p.m., a
22-year-old white male named James Fleck shot and killed his 19-year-old common law wife
(Lana) who was pregnant. Afterwards, James drove his eight-month-old daughter to his
grandfather’s house in the Berkeley neighborhood saying he wanted to die because he had
shot and killed Lana. Family members called the police when James left in his vehicle with
two pistols. The four police ocers were inside talking with the grandfather when they saw
CONTEMPORARY JUSTICE REVIEW 79
James exit his vehicle around 1:00 a.m. in front of the house. Ocers repeated commands
for James to drop his weapons. Instead of complying, James red a shot into the air and then
pointed the gun at himself and at ocers. The ocers retreated behind a car and shouted
‘Put the weapons down,’ and ‘We can discuss this.’ James continued to approach ocers and
red two additional shots into the air. James was shouting that he wanted to die. The four
ocers, who were white and Latino, reported feeling that they no longer had an escape
route and returned by ring seven shots. Ocer bullets hit James in the arm, chest and head
and he died from these wounds. The DA commended the ocers for showing such great
restraint. One witnesses stated the ocers must have shouted, ‘Put down the weapon’ more
than 20 times. The grandfather reported James was a manic-depressive and suicide prone.
One of James’s guns had stove piped while the other gun was cocked and loaded. If police
ocers had arrested James, a prosecutor could have possibly pursued the death penalty.
This case was unique because it was one of the small number of cases where the suspect
Table 2.Ethnic and racial differences in suspect characteristics (N=213).
**Significant (p-value<.05) and *marginally significant (p-value< .10) ethnic and racial differences are noted; ‡Significant
(p-value<.05) and †marginally significant (p-value<.10) differences for ethnic minorities versus White.
Overall (n=213) White (n=71) Black (n=51) Latino (n=91)
Count (%) Count (%) Count (%) Count (%)
Median (Q1, Q3) Median (Q1, Q3) Median (Q1, Q3) Median (Q1, Q3)
Suspect characteristics
Outcome * ‡
Wounded 110 (51.6%) 30 (42.3%) 32 (62.7%) 48 (52.7%)
Killed 103 (48.4%) 41 (57.7%) 19 (37.3%) 43 (47.3%)
Age 22 (28, 37) ** 26 (35, 44) 18 (21, 31) ‡ 22 (27, 32) ‡
Race/Ethnicity
White 71 (33.3%)
Black 51 (23.9%)
Latino 91 (42.7%)
Gender ‡
Male 205 (96.2%) 66 (93%) 49 (96.1%) 90 (98.9%)
Female 8 (3.8%) 5 (7%) 2 (3.9%) 1 (1.1%)
Foreign-born status ** ‡
No 202 (94.8%) 71 (100%) 50 (98%) 81 (89%)
Yes 11 (5.2%) 0 (0%) 1 (2%) 10 (11%)
Alcohol or drug use ** ‡
No 117 (55.2%) 32 (45.7%) 39 (76.5%) 46 (50.5%)
Yes 95 (44.8%) 38 (54.3%) 12 (23.5%) 45 (49.5%)
Mental health
reported
** ‡ ‡
No 199 (93.4%) 60 (84.5%) 50 (98%) 89 (97.8%)
Yes 14 (6.6%) 11 (15.5%) 1 (2%) 2 (2.2%)
Criminal record
No 125 (58.7%) 39 (54.9%) 35 (68.6%) 51 (56%)
Yes 88 (41.3%) 32 (45.1%) 16 (31.4%) 40 (44%)
Prison history
No 172 (80.8%) 57 (80.3%) 45 (88.2%) 70 (76.9%)
Yes 41 (19.2%) 14 (19.7%) 6 (11.8%) 21 (23.1%)
Reported gang
membership
** ‡ ‡
No 199 (93.4%) 71 (100%) 43 (84.3%) 85 (93.4%)
Yes 14 (6.6%) 0 (0%) 8 (15.7%) 6 (6.6%)
Reported suicidal
ideation
* ‡
No 190 (89.2%) 61 (85.9%) 50 (98%) 79 (86.8%)
Yes 23 (10.8%) 10 (14.1%) 1 (2%) 12 (13.2%)
80 R. J. DURÁN AND O. LOZA
had been involved in a homicide prior to or during an encounter with ocers (n = 7). Reports
of wanting to die at the hands of law enforcement, also known as suicide by cop, seemed
common in the media but were only reported in 23 of 213 cases and 14% (n = 10) of shoot-
ings involving whites.
Whereas police ocers often demonstrated restraint and negotiation for white suspects,
law enforcement ocers seemed to shoot blacks more quickly, even before ring a weapon.
On Saturday, 27 November 1999, 19-year-old Joseph Ashley went with his girlfriend to
retrieve some money. They drove to meet with two young men. The girlfriend got into their
car and shortly after Joseph hopped in the back seat and pointed a gun at the driver and
told him to drive. Joseph threatened to kill the two young men with a gun for disrespecting
him earlier on the telephone. Joseph robbed both individuals of their material possessions.
After driving around aimlessly for a period, Joseph released one of the occupants. This indi-
vidual called the police around 6:35 p.m. Police ocers from two jurisdictions, at the points
of call origination and vehicle location went to the Burger King in the Lowry Field neighbor-
hood where Joseph’s girlfriend had left her car. As ocers approached the parking lot at
6:43 p.m., they noticed Joseph driving the kidnapped suspect’s vehicle and blocked o the
exits. Seeing he was going to be contained, Joseph rammed into a police car. The ocer
used his patrol car to push Joseph and the two occupants into a corner. Joseph’s girlfriend
encouraged him to give her the gun. As the police used the loudspeaker to command, ‘Put
your hands up in the air’, both the kidnap victim and girlfriend complied and the gun fell to
the oor. Police ocers noticed Joseph was not complying. The kidnapping victim reported
Joseph stating, ‘Fuck this! I’m going out like a soldier’ as he stepped out of the vehicle and
reached for the gun. As Joseph started raising the gun, four white male ocers red 27
rounds hitting Joseph 10 times in the head, chest, groin, and forearm. The time was 6:46 p.m.
and ocers’ reported only a four to ve second dierence in time between when Joseph
grabbed the gun to when ocers red shots. Joseph did not re a bullet from his Tec-9 pistol
but the DA commended ocers for neutralizing this threat. Joseph’s blood alcohol level was
0.155. This case highlights the diculties of focusing primarily on ocer-involved shooting
data as it provided little information as to the reasoning behind Joseph’s behavior. It was
unclear what was going on in Joseph’s life prior to this incident.
White male police ocers ability to establish rapport with white shooting victims con-
trasted with the continued confrontation with black and Latino suspects. For example,
47-year-old David Pratt walks into a bank in the Baker neighborhood on Wednesday, 28
October 1992, around 9:40 a.m. and orders the teller to put the money in the bag. David wore
a blue baseball hat and jacket and pointed a gun at the teller who placed the money in the
bag. The teller pushed the silent alarm as David walked away. Another teller alerted a detec-
tive, who was working o-duty, about the robbery and the suspect leaving out the bank
doors. The detective, a white male with 17 years of experience, chased and yelled for David
to stop or he would shoot. The ocer saw David reach for his gun and red one shot hitting
David in the left front leg. David fell to the ground and the ocer placed him in handcus.
While waiting for the ambulance the detective asked David if he had any children, which he
answered armatively. The detective stated it was a good day for both men as their children
still had fathers as neither man was killed. The DA, Norman S. Early (1993a), stated:
The facts developed in this investigation show conclusively that Detective Greer acted
Swiftly, courageously and professionally to apprehend this armed bank robber. The threat pre-
sented by Pratt, armed with a loaded sawed-o 30–30 rie, is obvious … We commend Detective
CONTEMPORARY JUSTICE REVIEW 81
Greer, not only for his quick and decisive action in apprehending this clearly dangerous criminal,
but also for the compassion he displayed after the threat was neutralized. These actions exem-
plify excellence in police work and a human decency that speaks for itself. (p. 5)
An ocer’s ability to establish rapport after a shooting or attempting to delay may have
related to shared characteristics involving gender, age, or race and ethnicity.
The nal distinguishing point found with ocer-involved shootings of Latinos and com-
mon with blacks, were ocers often acting disrespectfully to the suspects encountered
before, during, or after the shooting occurred. For example, on Saturday 23 January 1988,
23-year-old Antonio Castillo became involved in dispute with a man on the bus and allegedly
ashed a gun in the Sun Valley neighborhood. The man got o the bus a short distance away
and noticed a police ocer parked close by and went over and told the ocer what he had
seen. The white male ocer with three years of experience observed the identied suspect.
Antonio allegedly placed a small caliber gun in his waistline. The ocer began following in
his patrol car and then exited with his gun drawn and shouted ‘Police ocer, stop!’ Antonio
continued walking with his girlfriend, and then started running. The ocer hopped back in
his car and gave chase, and then started chasing on foot. The ocer reported as Antonio
was running he turned back towards the ocer with the gun pointed. The ocer responded
by ring four shots. Most of the witnesses reported not seeing a gun, but the DA stated it
was probably because it was a very small handgun and based on the angles they observed
the shooting. The gun was a .25 caliber Raven. Several shootings of questionable conduct
included a .25 rearm.
3
There was not a bullet in the chamber. Antonio died at 4:35 p.m. from
a single gunshot wound to his back left side two inches from the armpit. One of the witnesses
reported it was ‘uncalled for’ that the ocer, after shooting, pulled the boys head up by the
hair and dropped his face back into the snow. The DA disputed the witness accounts as not
supported by the evidence. The DA argued the ocer had a reasonable belief the armed
Antonio presented a danger to the ocer’s life.
Ocer characteristics
The number of ocers at the scene (medians: 2 versus 1, respectively) and ocers who shot
(medians: 1 versus 1, respectively) were signicantly higher for incidents where whites were
shot compared to when the person was black (See Table 3). The number of shots red (medi-
ans: 2 versus 1) and the number of times the suspect was hit (medians: 1 versus 1) was mar-
ginally signicantly higher for incidents where whites were shot compared to when the person
was black. Dierences between whether the ocer was on-duty or o-duty, ocer injury, or
the gender or race and ethnicity of the ocers involved did not reach statistical signicance
despite some dierential patterns noted in the case descriptions. For example, although
ocers were often not injured in ocer-involved shooting incidents (17.8% of all cases
involved ocer injury) they were slightly more likely to be victimized from white suspects
(21.1%) compared to blacks (13.7%) or Latinos (17.6%). Shootings involving one or more
ocers included a median of four years on the force, and they were predominately male
(97.7%) and white (69.8%) and a quarter were Latino (25.7%). There were similar results for
shootings involving two or three ocers who red their guns. Based on the ocer character-
istics it appeared dicult to discern how much organizational factors based on training shaped
the dierences when interacting with armed suspects in a vehicle, non-compliance with com-
mands, or being involved in an accidental shooting as the following cases captured.
82 R. J. DURÁN AND O. LOZA
Table 3.Ethnic and racial differences in officer characteristics (N=213).
**Significant (p-value<.05) and *marginally significant (p-value< .10) ethnic and racial differences are noted; ‡Significant
(p-value<.05) and †marginally significant (p-value<.10) differences for ethnic minorities versus White.
Overall
(n=213) White (n=71) Black (n=51) Latino (n=91)
Count (%) Count (%) Count (%) Count (%)
Median (Q1,
Q3) Median (Q1, Q3) Median (Q1, Q3) Median (Q1, Q3)
Officer characteristics
Number of officers
at scene
1 (2, 4) ** 2 (3, 4) 1 (2, 3) ‡ 2 (2, 3) †
Number of officers
who shot
1 (1, 2) ** 1 (1, 3) 1 (1, 1) ‡ 1 (1, 2)
Number of shots
fired
1 (3, 8) 2 (4, 10) 1 (2, 7) ‡ 1 (3, 7)
Number of times
hit suspect
1 (2, 4) 1 (2, 4) 1 (1, 2) ‡ 1 (2, 4)
Officer duty
On-duty 196 (92%) 65 (91.5%) 47 (92.2%) 84 (92.3%)
Off-duty 17 (8%) 6 (8.5%) 4 (7.8%) 7 (7.7%)
Officer injured during shooting
No 175 (82.2%) 56 (78.9%) 44 (86.3%) 75 (82.4%)
Yes 38 (17.8%) 15 (21.1%) 7 (13.7%) 16 (17.6%)
Officer 1
Number of years
on the force
4 (7, 13) 4 (8, 14) 5 (8, 13) 4 (6, 13)
Gender
Male 208 (97.7%) 69 (97.2%) 49 (96.1%) 90 (98.9%)
Female 5 (2.3%) 2 (2.8%) 2 (3.9%) 1 (1.1%)
Race/Ethnicity
White 141 (69.8%) 49 (73.1%) 33 (67.3%) 59 (68.6%)
Black 7 (3.5%) 2 (3%) 3 (6.1%) 2 (2.3%)
Asian 1 (0.5%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (1.2%)
Latino 52 (25.7%) 16 (23.9%) 12 (24.5%) 24 (27.9%)
Multiracial 1 (0.5%) 0 (0%) 1 (2%) 0 (0%)
Officer 2
Number of years
on the force
4 (7, 11) 4 (8, 15) 4 (8, 16) 4 (6, 10)
Gender
Male 73 (96.1%) 27 (96.4%) 12 (100%) 34 (94.4%)
Female 3 (3.9%) 1 (3.6%) 0 (0%) 2 (5.6%)
Race/Ethnicity
White 42 (66.7%) 19 (73.1%) 6 (66.7%) 17 (60.7%)
Black 1 (1.6%) 1 (3.8%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Latino 19 (30.2%) 6 (23.1%) 2 (22.2%) 11 (39.3%)
Multiracial 1 (1.6%) 0 (0%) 1 (11.1%) 0 (0%)
Officer 3
Number of years
on the force
5 (8, 12) 4 (8, 12) 9 (10, 0) 4 (7, 13)
Gender
Male 34 (97.1%) 21 (95.5%) 3 (100%) 10 (100%)
Female 1 (2.9%) 1 (4.5%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Race/Ethnicity
White 17 (60.7%) 12 (63.2%) 0 (0%) 5 (62.5%)
Black 2 (7.1%) 2 (10.5%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Asian 1 (3.6%) 1 (5.3%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Latino 8 (28.6%) 4 (21.1%) 1 (100%) 3 (37.5%)
CONTEMPORARY JUSTICE REVIEW 83
Ocers perceived suspect possession of weapons and level of threat dierently based
on whether the individual was white, black, or Latino. Police ocers were more likely to re
more bullets when individuals used vehicles as weapons. For example, on Friday 18 April
2003, 20-year-old Shaun Gilman pointed a red beam at a 7–11 store clerk at 2:53 a.m. The
clerk called 911. A police ocer found the suspect’s vehicle a short distance from the 7–11
store and made a stop. The sole ocer approached the Jeep and observed a white male
occupant behind the steering wheel. The driver, Shaun, put the vehicle in reverse, drove
toward the ocer at a high rate of speed, slammed into the ocer’s car, and drove away.
The ocer called dispatch at 3:08 a.m. reporting this incident. The Jeep was later located at
3:12 a.m. stuck on a re hydrant in Capitol Hill. There were 11 shootings in Capitol Hill making
it one of the top three neighborhoods for police to use deadly force. Ocers began ordering
the driver to surrender. Shaun appeared to hold several objects and point them towards
ocers. He ipped ocers o with his middle nger as they spoke to him through the public
address system and continued revving the Jeep engine attempting to free the lodged vehicle.
Police ocers reported thinking Shaun had red a shot towards ocers with a rearm at
3:35 a.m. when eight ocers, who were both male and female, red 50 bullets hitting him
an estimated 16 times. After assessing the scene, police ocers discovered that the weapon
was a pistol grip crossbow, which was mistaken for a gun. Hospital sta pronounced Shaun
dead at 4:15 a.m. He had both acetone and THC in his system. The DA stated ocers tried
for 23 min to resolve the confrontation peacefully and the number of shots red ceased
immediately once the perceived threat was neutralized. Ritter (2003b) concludes:
It is tragic that Shaun Gilman by his conduct caused the ocers to take his life. It is also unfor-
tunate that his parents, family, and friends, who knew him as a dierent person in better times,
have had this tragedy visited upon their lives. Unfortunately, these ocers encountered Shaun
Gilman at a time when he was exposing citizens and the ocers to great danger. (p. 18)
Most ocer involved shooting cases had three or fewer ocers who red their weapon.
Shaun Gilman’s family questioned the police response to their bipolar son and number of
shots red. The District Attorney was more likely to report mental illness for whites shot by
the police, as 11 of the 14 (78.6%) cases demonstrate.
Blacks were more likely to be shot by one police ocer rather than several as captured
by this example. On Wednesday, 25 May 2005 at 1:30 a.m., 31-year-old Harrison Owens
assaulted and robbed a man in Capitol Hill who ed toward a police car asking for help. The
white male ocer, Ocer Wyatt, with eight years of experience observed the bloodied
individual run towards him. The robbery victim reported a black man with a white shirt
assaulted him and had a gun. The ocer exited his patrol car and approached Harrison who
started running away. Ocer Wyatt ran after Harrison down a dark alley. He shouted, ‘Drop
the gun’ and ‘Show me your hands.’ As Harrison runs, he allegedly points a gun back towards
the ocer who red one shot, hitting Harrison in the middle right side of his back near the
shoulder blade, and Harrison falls face down with a fully loaded .44 caliber revolver near his
hand. The autopsy documents a blood alcohol level of 0.161 in addition to meth and can-
nabinoids in his system. According to news reports, Harrison had previously served ve years
in prison and several witnesses prior to the shooting corroborated the ocer’s testimony.
The media reported how the family disputed the allegation of Harrison trying to shoot a cop
and said he was an overall good man, father of three children, and would give the shirt o
his back to help someone. At least 70 family members and friends held a candle light vigil
in his honor. The DA found the shooting justied by physical evidence that supported a
84 R. J. DURÁN AND O. LOZA
bullet trajectory consistent with someone pointing a gun behind them. The Manager of
Safety also found the ocer acted appropriately. However, family members and members
of the black community questioned the ocer’s version of events because it occurred in a
dark alley without any eyewitnesses or video footage. The ocer’s claim of threat superseded
that of the family of Harrison Owens and this case was empirically impossible to disprove
as long as the ocer reported his statement of what occurred to be truth. Although most
ocers are never involved in an ocer-involved shooting, this was Ocer Wyatt’s second
shooting in ve years. As of 2014, he had been promoted to Lieutenant.
Related to patterns of a sole ocer involved in the shooting of black male, were individual
ocers ring their weapon more as a response to non-compliance rather than an actual
threat. On Monday, 17 October 1983, 14-year-old William Harper was running from a police
ocer when the ocer shot him in the Five Points neighborhood. The Five Points neighbor-
hood has been impacted by gentrication but has historically been a black and then later a
mixed black and Latino neighborhood with higher than average poverty levels. In 30 years,
Five Points has led the city in the highest number of ocer-involved shootings (n = 19).
William and two friends reportedly robbed a woman walking with the aid of cane around
6:15 p.m. As they stole her purse, she fell to the ground and dragged a short distance. A
witness alerted a white male ocer with 15 years of experience, Ocer Tavenner, who began
a foot chase. He yelled ‘Freeze,’ ‘Stop,’ and ‘Don’t go over the fence or I’ll shoot.’ William alleg-
edly ignored the ocer’s commands and the ocer shot him in the lower right calf. William
did not possess a weapon and the perceived knife may have actually been an Afro style pick
stated the DA. William reported the ocer saying, ‘Freeze or I’ll blow your head o’ and then
said, ‘Don’t think I’m playing’ as William continued to walk away. The DA, Norman S. Early
(1983) who was also black stated:
Based on these and other facts developed in the investigation, we clearly could not disprove
beyond a reasonable doubt the ‘armative defense’ available to Ocer Tavenner under Colorado
law. Therefore, no criminal charges are leable against Ocer Tavenner for his conduct in wound-
ing William Harper. At the time of this incident, William Harper had had 18 police contacts in a
two-year period and was wanted on arrest warrants for two burglaries and rst degree sexual
assaults. (p. 3)
In 30 years, Denver had four dierent District Attorneys who reviewed ocer-involved shoot-
ings in the city. City and County ocials utilized District Attorneys from surrounding counties
in cases of perceived conict of interest. Nevertheless, District Attorneys considered nearly
100% (217 of 218) of cases legally justied.
Accidental shootings were a distinguishing feature for Latinos and blacks, where the
ocer reports unintentionally ring his weapon. On Thursday, 25 March 1993 around mid-
night, 17-year-old Louis Melendez was with some friends. An ocer heard shots red when
he observed several vehicles leaving an area in the Sunnyside neighborhood. The ocer
followed a Nissan truck and two additional patrol cars joined the chase. The ocers reported
the suspects in the Nissan truck became stuck when it rammed the police car. The ocers
exited their vehicles with their guns drawn. They removed three individuals from the front
cab and had them lie face down on the ground. They ordered two passengers in the back
of the truck to exit the vehicle. Police ocers reported both individuals in the back were
nonresponsive to orders and so the Latino ocer with ve years of experience reached into
the bed of truck to force one of the occupants out with his left hand but during the process
struck his right elbow on something and red a shot. None of the ocers knew whose gun
was red but it was later determined the bullet shot Louis through the left rear of his head.
CONTEMPORARY JUSTICE REVIEW 85
Louis’s blood alcohol was 0.18 and the police ocers removed several guns from the truck.
The individuals in the truck reported a desire to seek revenge for a recently shot friend. The
DA (Early, 1993b) stated the following:
The facts developed in the investigation of this incident support the conclusion that the non-
life threatening injury to Melendez was a result of an unintended discharge of Ocer Rubio’s
service revolver following a sharp blow to his right elbow. Ocer Rubio and the other ocers
involved in this confrontation were clearly justied in approaching the Nissan truck with their
weapons drawn. The occupants of the truck were suspected of being involved in a shooting
that had just occurred, had recklessly eluded the pursuing ocers, and had rammed one of
the patrol cars prior to coming to a stop … It is clear that Ocer Rubio did not intend to re his
weapon or injure Melendez. Moreover, he did not even know that his gun had discharged until
all of the ocers were checking their weapons and he found that one of the bullets in his gun
had been red. These are very dangerous encounters that ocers are forced to engage in with
violent oenders who refuse to cooperate and submit to lawful arrest. Had Melendez complied
with the lawful commands of Ocer Rubio and the other ocers, this unintended discharge
could have been averted. (pp. 3–4)
The ocer’s gun was a larger caliber rearm (.357 revolver) which made it surprising the
ocer did not know the bullet red was from his gun. More than likely delirious, Louis orig-
inally reported the injury was due to hitting his head on the oor as the bullet red traveled
three inches between his skin and skull.
Contextual factors
Although Goldkamp (1976) primarily described the second belief perspective as level of
threat individually or collectively, by race and ethnicity, and in the general neighborhood,
it was an explanation compatible with dierential levels of enforcement. First, there were
signicant ethnic and racial dierences in the proportion of ethnic distribution of residents
in Census Tract of Shooting (See Table 4). The demographic environment played a role when
the shootings of whites happened signicantly more in tracts where there was a higher
proportion of Non-Hispanic white residents. Similarly, blacks and Latinos were shot in tracts
where there were a higher proportion of black and Latino residents, respectively. Although
general data regarding crime rates by neighborhood were not attained during the writing
of this article, specic insights were available for each shooting incident. Another statistically
signicant dierence was the number of minutes involved between the shooting of white
suspects (median: 4 min) compared to black (median: 2 min) and also twice as high for Latino
(median: 2 min) although the latter was not signicant due to the range in time. Time has
often been examined under ocer discretion, but in examining the data it merged better
with what type of weapon was being used and what level of threat was presented. There
were not statistically signicant dierences in the shooting location (in-door or outdoors),
weapon used, way in which the weapon was handled, whether the police were notied by
9-1-1, the person contacting the police, possible oense types, seriousness of oense, or
whether an individual had been victimized prior to the police arriving to the scene.
Qualitatively, the narratives hinted at larger patterns of structural inequality inuencing
ocer-involved shooting incidents. Although most individuals shot by the police were male
(96%), white females were more likely to be shot by the police both intentionally and unin-
tentionally. For example, 42-year-old Kathleen Stege4 was one of the eight females shot by
the police. Sixty-three percent of women shot were white. On Sunday, 13 March 1994, around
7:00 a.m. a neighbor of Kathleen’s in the Belcaro neighborhood (almost all white and low
86 R. J. DURÁN AND O. LOZA
Table 4.Ethnic and racial differences contextual factors of shooting (N=213).
Overall (n=213) White (n=71) Black (n=51) Latino (n=91)
Count (%) Count (%) Count (%) Count (%)
Median (Q1, Q3) Median (Q1, Q3) Median (Q1, Q3) Median (Q1, Q3)
Contextual factors
Shooting incident level of critique
Problematic 39 (18.3%) 11 (15.5%) 11 (21.6%) 17 (18.7%)
Questionable 99 (46.5%) 30 (42.3%) 26 (51%) 43 (47.3%)
Legitimate 75 (35.2%) 30 (42.3%) 14 (27.5%) 31 (34.1%)
Shooting location setting
In-door 57 (26.8%) 21 (29.6%) 14 (27.5%) 22 (24.2%)
Outdoors 156 (73.2%) 50 (70.4%) 37 (72.5%) 69 (75.8%)
Shooting location details
Public place 120 (56.3%) 38 (53.5%) 30 (58.8%) 52 (57.1%)
Living area 93 (43.7%) 33 (46.5%) 21 (41.2%) 39 (42.9%)
Proportion of ethnic and poverty distribution of residents in census tract of shooting
Non-hispanic white residents 0.2 (0.4, 0.7) * 0.2 (0.5, 0.7) 0.2 (0.5, 0.7) 0.2 (0.4, 0.5) ‡
Black residents 0 (0.1, 0.2) ** 0 (0, 0.1) 0.1 (0.2, 0.6) ‡ 0 (0, 0.1) ‡
Latino residents 0.2 (0.3, 0.6) ** 0.1 (0.3, 0.6) 0.1 (0.2, 0.2) ‡ 0.3 (0.5, 0.6) ‡
Residents living in poverty 0.2 (0.3, 0.3) 0.1 (0.3, 0.3) 0.1 (0.3, 0.3) 0.2 (0.2, 0.3)
Weapon used by the person shot
None 34 (16%) 11 (15.5%) 11 (21.6%) 12 (13.2%)
Minor objects 10 (4.7%) 2 (2.8%) 3 (5.9%) 5 (5.5%)
Dangerous object 6 (2.8%) 2 (2.8%) 1 (2%) 3 (3.3%)
Knife 24 (11.3%) 9 (12.7%) 6 (11.8%) 9 (9.9%)
Vehicle 23 (10.8%) 10 (14.1%) 3 (5.9%) 10 (11%)
Gun 116 (54.5%) 37 (52.1%) 27 (52.9%) 52 (57.1%)
Way weapon was used by the person shot
Active threat 134 (64.1%) 47 (68.1%) 28 (56%) 59 (65.6%)
Vague threat 19 (9.1%) 5 (7.2%) 6 (12%) 8 (8.9%)
Perceived threat 56 (26.8%) 17 (24.6%) 16 (32%) 23 (25.6%)
Minutes between arrival and shooting 2 (5, 12) ** 4 (5, 14) 2 (3, 7) ‡ 2 (5, 15)
CONTEMPORARY JUSTICE REVIEW 87
‡Significant (p-value<.05) and †marginally significant (p-value<.10) differences for ethnic minorities versus White. **Significant (p-value<.05) and *marginally significant (p-value<.10) ethnic and
racial differences are noted.
Community initiated engagement or 9-1-1 call
No 98 (46%) 29 (40.8%) 23 (45.1%) 46 (50.5%)
Yes 115 (54%) 42 (59.2%) 28 (54.9%) 45 (49.5%)
Person who contacted the police
Self 1 (0.9%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (2.4%)
Family member 17 (15.5%) 5 (12.2%) 5 (18.5%) 7 (16.7%)
Store employee 15 (13.6%) 8 (19.5%) 3 (11.1%) 4 (9.5%)
Victim 14 (12.7%) 3 (7.3%) 5 (18.5%) 6 (14.3%)
Partner/wife/girlfriend 17 (15.5%) 6 (14.6%) 2 (7.4%) 9 (21.4%)
Stranger observed 43 (39.1%) 17 (41.5%) 11 (40.7%) 15 (35.7%)
Friend 1 (0.9%) 1 (2.4%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Boyfriend/husband/partner 1 (0.9%) 1 (2.4%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Burglar alarm 1 (0.9%) 0 (0%) 1 (3.7%) 0 (0%)
Possible offense type of the person shot
Nothing 7 (3.3%) 2 (2.8%) 2 (3.9%) 3 (3.3%)
Curiosity 21 (9.9%) 8 (11.3%) 6 (11.8%) 7 (7.7%)
Drug offense 1 (0.5%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (1.1%)
Interpersonal violence 128 (60.1%) 39 (54.9%) 32 (62.7%) 57 (62.6%)
Mental health 5 (2.3%) 2 (2.8%) 0 (0%) 3 (3.3%)
Property crime 15 (7%) 4 (5.6%) 5 (9.8%) 6 (6.6%)
Traffic 17 (8%) 7 (9.9%) 2 (3.9%) 8 (8.8%)
Previous crime 19 (8.9%) 9 (12.7%) 4 (7.8%) 6 (6.6%)
Seriousness of possible offense type
Nothing 20 (9.4%) 9 (12.7%) 4 (7.8%) 7 (7.7%)
Misdemeanor 42 (19.7%) 13 (18.3%) 10 (19.6%) 19 (20.9%)
Felony 149 (70%) 48 (67.6%) 37 (72.5%) 64 (70.3%)
Capital homicide 2 (0.9%) 1 (1.4%) 0 (0%) 1 (1.1%)
Death penalty eligible case
No 205 (96.2%) 68 (95.8%) 48 (94.1%) 89 (97.8%)
Yes 8 (3.8%) 3 (4.2%) 3 (5.9%) 2 (2.2%)
Victimized another individual
No 154 (72.3%) 54 (76.1%) 38 (74.5%) 62 (68.1%)
Yes 59 (27.7%) 17 (23.9%) 13 (25.5%) 29 (31.9%)
88 R. J. DURÁN AND O. LOZA
poverty neighborhood) called the police and reported a loud noise and the sound of break-
ing glass. An ocer responded to the scene around 9:39 a.m. and made contact with the
possible suspect who reported she was on the phone long distance and couldn’t talk to the
ocer. Although the ocer reported the response by Kathleen was strange, he found a lack
of evidence indicating criminal behavior and left the scene. Around 2:00 p.m., the neighbor’s
daughter viewed a bullet hole in her mother’s house and organized several additional neigh-
bors to make another call to the police because they wanted something done. Two dierent
police ocers arrived and attempted to speak with Kathleen but there was no response.
The ocers contacted a detective who called Kathleen’s home. Kathleen reported she had
shot at three hit men who were in her attic and she would shoot anyone who attempted to
come into her house. The police department called the Metro/SWAT unit and 5 h stando
ensued. Negotiators were unsuccessful at getting Kathleen to come outside even with the
deployment of ve ferret rounds of CS gas. Ocers contacted the hospital to learn more
about Kathleen’s mental condition. The hospital sta reported treatment for paranoia and
delusional behavior and prescription medication of Lithium and Mellaril. Shortly after
9:00 p.m., the Denver Police Department made the decision to initiate a surprise entrance
of six ocers into the home to arrest Kathleen. During the entrance of ocers, the lead
ocer, a white male and 22-year veteran reported Kathleen entered the room and red one
round. He red three shots in return. Medical emergency personnel took Kathleen to the
hospital where she died from multiple gunshot wounds. The DA described the entire incident
as ‘unfortunate and ultimately tragic’ but the ocer’s decision was necessary to protect those
in the immediate vicinity of Kathleen from future harm. Based on the information in the le,
the level of threat presented by Kathleen was completely hypothetical, but maybe it was
the possibility of the unknown that pushed law enforcement to act. The primary concern
listed was her possession of rearms and unstable condition. This was the only shooting to
occur in the Belcaro neighborhood in 30 years whereas some neighborhoods that were
predominantly black or Latino had upwards of 19 total shootings during this time frame.
Public ocials praised the level of ocer restraint and attempts to gain compliance by
alternative methods and there were no public criticisms found in the media.
Immediate entry search warrants resulting in ocer-involved shootings were more com-
mon for black and Latino suspects. The war on drugs has captured a higher proportion of
racial and ethnic minorities (Mauer, 2009). On Wednesday, 17 September 1986, a judge issued
an immediate entry search warrant for a residence in the Curtis Park housing projects in the
Five Points neighborhood. A condential informant reported the packaging and distribution
of heroin occurring at the residence along with the presence of guns. Police ocers expected
two Mexican nationals to be present during the raid along with 54-year-old Alfonso Mitchell
who law enforcement ocials described as having a history of concealing weapons. Thirteen
ocers from the Narcotics Bureau and Tactical Motorcycle Unit split into two teams. They
entered the front and back doors of the residence around 3:35 p.m. As ocers enter the
home they yell ‘Police, freeze!’ The police apprehend a Latino man from New Mexico, place
him on a chair, and tell him to keep his hands in the air. A white male ocer with 11 years
of experience sees an inner door partially open and possibly closed by a hook or chair. The
ocer kicked the door open and yelled ‘Police, don’t move!’ A black male inside, Alfonso,
moved his right hand and the ocer red one shot to his upper right chest. Afterwards,
ocers were unable to nd a weapon but the police suspected he was possibly attempting
to stash .3 grams of heroin. The DA (Early, 1986) stated that it was reasonable for the police
CONTEMPORARY JUSTICE REVIEW 89
ocer to believe Alfonso posed an immediate threat to his safety, ‘An ocer has right to act
on appearances and does not have to wait for a citizen to injure or kill him before he acts to
protect himself or a third party’ (p. 4). The DA stated Alfonso’s movement caused the ocer
to shoot. The warrant resulted in 27 grams of heroin and four thousand dollars in cash found
on the Latino male in addition to a gun. Policer ocers were unable to nd additional drugs
or weapons in the residence so it was unclear whether Alfonso really was attempting to hide
some drugs.
Scholars have often reported the importance of family in the Latino community (Telles
& Ortiz, 2008). Maintaining a family under lower economic circumstances impacted by alco-
hol, drugs, jealousy, possessiveness, or generations of exclusion was hard to produce an
ideal situation. For example, on Monday 30 April 2000, Ralph Baca-Salcido, 44 years of age
was involved in a domestic dispute in the Sloan’s Lake neighborhood. Sloan’s Lake was 51%
Non-Hispanic white and 41% Latino. Around 1:38 p.m., his daughter called 911 stating her
dad was yelling at her mother and swinging a knife at everyone. Ralph left the scene with a
knife prior to ve ocers arriving. Ralph’s wife tells police of his excessive drinking and
abusiveness towards her and their ve children. Earlier in the morning, Ralph tried to choke
her to death and threatened to kill her. She has been staying at a motel due to his behavior.
The wife reports Ralph stated he cannot live without her and that he was not going back to
jail. He previously served several years in prison for manslaughter. Three ocers were present
in the front yard as Ralph pulled up in his vehicle at 1:47 p.m. He gets out with a beer bottle
in his right hand and a large pipe and knife in the left hand. The ocers draw their rearms
as Ralph continued to advance. The ocers yell, ‘Drop the weapons!’ Family members say,
‘He is drunk and won’t do anything.’ The family pleads with Ralph to drop the weapons, but
he responds not wanting to go back to jail. Two ocers deploy mace. Family members stated
he began swinging his arms wildly because he couldn’t see whereas ocers reported the
mace did not seem to have any eect. The two white male police ocers red ve shots at
1:53 p.m. Ralph fell face down and ocers held back family members as they called the
ambulance. Ralph died later from his injuries. His blood alcohol level was .240. The DA (Ritter,
2000) states ‘It is tragic that Salcido chose to be violent with his wife and family. It was not
the rst time. They are the real victims in this case. You need look no further than Ralph
Salcido to lay 100% of the blame for his own death’ (p. 17). This statement by Ritter was
interesting because while rightfully challenging the criminal behavior of Ralph, which may
have led to a return conviction to prison, the district attorney in essence justied the pun-
ishment of death, which would not have occurred in a court of law. This case also highlights
the trauma family members and children report when observing an ocer-involved shooting
that resulted in death.
Fights outside clubs were a more common feature for ocer-involved shootings of Latinos
and blacks. On Friday, 7 March 2003, 24-year-old Luis Almeida Ponce was partying at the
Tequila Le Club in the Regis neighborhood. Although the residential neighborhood itself
was 74% white, the bar and nightclub located along the busy Federal Boulevard played
primarily Spanish music. At 1:15 a.m., an ocer lling out paperwork in a parking lot when
a woman pulls up in her vehicle and states an individual was brandishing a rearm. The
woman describes the suspect as a Hispanic male, wearing blue jeans, a white shirt and white
cowboy hat. Three ocers in dierent patrol cars rush to scene. Upon arriving, ocers see
two individuals struggling over an object in one of the individual’s waistband. The individuals
break up as the ocers shout, ‘Let me see your hands!’ The ocers report Luis reaching for
90 R. J. DURÁN AND O. LOZA
his waistband and starting to raise an object. The three police ocers, who were white and
Latino, red 27 shots of which 14 hit Luis who falls to the ground. Several witnesses reported
hearing police say put the gun down or drop the weapon. One witness believed Luis was
attempting to surrender by putting his hands in the air. The ocers reported they feared
the suspect was about to shoot them. During the autopsy, medical examiners found a 0.156
blood alcohol level for Luis. The DA (Ritter, 2003a) states:
Almeida–Ponce is the only person who could know with certainty what his intentions were at
the instant he pulled the weapon. The ocers are not mind-readers. They must react to the
quickly evolving circumstances which confront them. They do not have the luxury of pushing
a pause button … It is unfortunate that Almeida-Ponce chose to act as he did. His actions
throughout this confrontation were non-compliant, aggressive and consistent with an intention
to harm the ocers. It is fortunate that no ocer or citizen was injured in this life threatening
confrontation. (p. 7)
Public ocials did not mention whether language or nationality dierences might have
inuenced the shooting outcome or whether ocers were too quick to shoot. Police ocers
shot at least 11 immigrants, of whom 91% were reportedly from Mexico or other Latin
American countries, during the 30 years of this study. There appeared to be greater interest
since 2005 for increasing the number of Denver Police Department ocers who could speak
both English and Spanish.
Conclusion
Shooting narratives combined with bivariate analyses capture the complexity of ocer-
involved shootings. The twelve cases provided replicate the multiple number of ways in
which ocer-involved shootings have occurred for the past thirty years in one large sized
city in the United States. The incidents provided were primarily the ‘ocial’ version of events
that provided legal justication for DA’s to not le criminal charges and police departments
to not pursue administrative discipline. At the moment, research studies lack the ability to
answer denitively what exactly occurred in these incidents without additional fact-nding
initiatives such as establishing research teams to work independently to gather information
while at the same time having ocial support and access. In addition to the value of visual
and sound data such as camera footage from witnesses and ocers. Nevertheless, compiling
thirty years of ocer-involved shooting data for one city demonstrates a dierential shooting
rate of blacks and Latinos compared to whites. These ndings replicate previous studies
nding black overrepresentation (Alvarez, 1992; Fyfe, 1981, 1982; Geller & Karales, 1981;
Harring et al., 1977; Inn et al., 1977; Kobler, 1975; Meyer, 1980; Robin, 1963). In addition, the
inclusion of Latinos highlights overrepresentation compared to whites but at rates lower
than blacks similar to virtual simulations conducted by Sadler et al. (2012). Latinos, however,
were the greatest in total number for shooting victims. These data nd whites, particularly
marginalized whites (lower socioeconomic status, mental illness, and suicidal), can also be
shot by the police.
Contrary to other research studies that have lacked case analysis, the qualitative data
highlights several important patterns involving suspect characteristics, ocer characteristics,
and contextual factors. When we examined suspect characteristics, the researchers found a
greater level of restraint, delay, and compassion shown toward white suspects. Police ocers
appear to perceive blacks as a greater level of threat and in possession of weapons, despite
actual data showing patterns somewhat less than whites although not statistically signicant.
CONTEMPORARY JUSTICE REVIEW 91
Blacks, who were shot by a police ocer, were no more likely to be involved in serious crime,
victimize another individual, or injure an ocer than whites. Thus, the greater proportion
of blacks shot compared to whites heightens concern as towards levels of inequality that
go beyond these three categories (i.e. suspect characteristics, ocer characteristics, or con-
textual factors) to the intersectionality of various factors that are often interrelated and
overlap in decision-making. For example, societal fears of community crime involving blacks
seemed to heighten police ocers to consider age, gender, and appearance to mix with
various drug and gang punishment eorts into shaping a dangerous situation when encoun-
tering black suspects. Such instances of decision-making overrepresented blacks and Latinos
and concentrated shootings in their neighborhoods, which only enhanced community frus-
tration and anger especially after DA’s determined almost every shooting legally justiable.
Latinos seem to approach a middle line version between shooting incidents of whites and
blacks with cases that range from appalling to dicult in creating a non-confrontational
outcome. However, nearly half of all cases (46.5%), of each racial and ethnic group, read as
more questionable compared to District Attorneys and police departments nding no evi-
dence to suggest legal or departmental violations. Moreover, 18.3% of all cases appear to
have problematic facts that have led to protest, civil suits, and enhanced division between
the community and the police (Durán, 2016). The other 35.2% of cases appear legitimate as
non-lethal outcomes appear harder to produce.
Based on the bivariate analyses, suspect characteristics had the highest number of sta-
tistically signicant characteristics (n = 12), followed by shared outcomes for ocer char-
acteristics and contextual factors (n = 4 each). Combining all three explanations and
independently evaluating dierences for whites compared to blacks and Latinos indicates
support to Takagi’s (1974) claim of law enforcement ocers possessing two trigger ngers
(one for whites and another for blacks). In essence, U.S. society has vested legal and com-
mon sense legitimacy to law enforcement ocers to use coercive force that continues to
replicate racial and ethnic inequality. Law enforcement ocers can legally use deadly force
as long as they report feeling threatened. The access to rearms increases the lethalness
of such a decision. Therefore, there are plenty of data to suggest the process for how a
police ocer trigger nger operates are dierent. The law enforcement nger was more
‘loose’ in terms of frequency with racial and ethnic minorities but more rigid in regards to
how many ocers red their weapons and how many bullets were red, partially because
in our reading of the data questionable events as towards determining the level of threat
present. In other words, law enforcement ocers were quicker to shoot blacks and Latinos
rather than delaying to gather additional information. However, in the process of gathering
more information for white suspects, more ocers arrived to the scene, and when the
police ocers made the decision to shoot, it resulted in more red bullets at an individual
older in age, resulting in a greater chance of death. Overall, in ocer-involved shooting
circumstances, the police could be equally dangerous to individuals deemed lower in soci-
etal power.
This study provides one of the most comprehensive studies ever conducted on ocer-
involved shootings and dierences by race and ethnicity. The original collected data, however
encounters several forms of limitations involving generalizability. The rst limitation is gen-
eralizability given that this data is from only one study site, the City and County of Denver,
Colorado, and the inability for the research to have been conducted on-site at the time it
occurred. Ocial accounts, media, and community members all oer a vantage point that
92 R. J. DURÁN AND O. LOZA
is valuable in understanding these actions but scientic physical evidence and independent
review have remained elusive despite claims by DA’s and law enforcement organizations of
transparency. One day researchers may hope for an independent, research focused, design
that operates with the goal of improving public health by reducing gun related violence
(Hemenway, 2004) and improving relations between law enforcement and racial and ethnic
minority communities (Bass, 2001; Russell-Brown, 2004; Takagi, 1974). We encourage the
collaboration between district attorneys and police departments to incorporate independent
research teams when a shooting occurs to be on-scene during the investigation of an
ocer-involved shooting and play a role in the interviews of ocers, suspects, and family
members. A collaborative eort could help provide greater clarity to the racial and ethnic
dierences found in this study.
Notes
1. The authors need additional newspaper microche research for examining shootings from
1983 to 1989.
2. The Rocky Mountain News’ published its nal paper on 27 February 2009.
3. The rst author has a separate article focused on the law enforcement shootings coded as
problematic (Durán, 2016).
4. The authors chose to use the rst name of the individual shot by the police to provide a more
humanistic account. The individuals shot by the police did not encounter such a punishment
through a court of law but rather by the discretion of individual police ocers. The purpose is
not to condone the actions of the individuals shot but to emphasize the public health risk that
exists for the greatest loss of life at the hands of the criminal justice system.
Disclosure statement
No potential conict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Robert J. Durán is an assistant professor of Sociology at the University of Tennessee, and his areas of
research include race, crime and justice, social control, and resistance through the lens of ethnogra-
phy. He is the author of Gang Life in Two Cities: An Insider’s Journey (2013) and his forthcoming book
is The Gang Paradox: Inequalities and Miracles on the U.S.-Mexico Border, both published by Columbia
University Press.
Oralia Loza, PhD, is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), a Hispanic
serving institution. Her research interests lie in identifying risks populations and behaviors for HIV,
hepatitis C virus, and sexually transmitted infections as well as substance abuse on the U.S.-Mexico
border region. These high-risk and vulnerable populations include persons who use drugs, transgen-
der women, migrants, and men who have sex with men, women who engage in transactional sex.
Also, she has focused on addressing Hispanic and ethic health disparities; specically assessing how
cross-border mobility between Cd. Juárez and El Paso, immigration status, and cultural norms can
be either a protective or risk factor, depending on the outcome. Her research involves collaboration
with non-government organizations and community agencies and community-based participatory
research on both sides of the border. She has 17 journal publications, one book chapter, and nine
published abstract, most of which are on these topics. Her research program and research training
are funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Institutes of Drug Abuse as well as internal
UTEP grants.
CONTEMPORARY JUSTICE REVIEW 93
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