AURORA | A pending First Amendment lawsuit against the City of Aurora and public commenting cancelled during the city council meeting didn’t stop MiDian Shofner and others from finding ways to disrupt last Monday’s city council meeting.
“I ask that you listen, not with just your ears, but with your conscience,” Shofner said before speaking repeatedly for each agenda item. This was the opening statement for many of the speakers during the meeting.
Shofner has led months of protests during city council meetings linked to the death of Kilyn Lewis, an unarmed Black man who was killed by an Aurora SWAT officer during his arrest in May 2024. Lewis was accused of a shooting earlier that month in Denver For months, she and a handful of other protesters have appeared at a portion of city council members set aside for public comment on issues not on that night’s agenda.
Last Monday, Shofner virtually spoke during the public hearing portions of the city council meeting to protest an earlier move by city lawmakers to cancel the “public invited to be heard” session, she told the Sentinel.
At the June 9 city council meeting, city lawmakers permanently cancelled the public comment part of each meeting to stymie their regular oratories and disruptions. The council agreed to end the comment segments until a lawsuit filed by Lewis’ family members against the city for wrongful death is complete.
In turn, Shofner and her attorneys, Andy McNulty and Mari Newman, announced June 19 they were suing the, arguing that the city singled out and aimed to silence Shofner’s First Amendment rights by cancelling the public comment portion of the council’s bi-weekly meetings.
At Monday’s city council meeting, Shofner and more than five other individuals signed up for each public hearing and agenda item that allowed for public comment — all unrelated to the Lewis issue or police matters — to protest and bring attention to their demands for either the city council or city staff to intervene in the Lewis case.
After an investigation last year, the 18th Judicial District declined to file charges against the office who fatally shot Lewis, Michael Diek, and Aurora’s police chief said Dieck did not stray from any APD policies during the shooting.
Aurora is currently under a consent decree imposed by the Colorado attorney general after an investigation in the police department determined the agency exhibited years of “patterns and practices” of using excessive and deadly force, especially against people of color.
Monday wasn’t the first time Lewis protesters had feigned interest in speaking on a variety of agenda items just to draw attention to the Lewis shooting.
The contrivances have prompted some city lawmakers to find ways to curtail their regular appearances, comments and disruptions. Many of the new public comment rules are directed at them, but the legal argument both sides are working to establish is whether the rules are directed at Shofner’s speech or at the group members for breaking council rules during meetings.
“We did not change the rules because of anyone’s speech,” Françoise Bergan said. “We will listen to anyone, including non-residents of Aurora, but they need to follow the rules, and this group has refused to do so. That’s why we have changed the rules. Their intentional disruptions are the reason, not their speech.”
The protest last week by the group occurred during the meeting’s public hearings and public comment for agenda items, with each person who spoke staying somewhat “on track” with the item, while strategically spelling out the name “Kilyn Lewis.” The interruptions caused the meeting to run an additional hour and a half to two hours over, with the meeting finally ending at 11 p.m. that night.
Some of the speakers taunted city lawmakers, pointing out how long the meeting had been extended despite bypassing the public comment segment of the meeting.
The situation caused tensions to run high, with council members cutting each other off, ignoring meeting procedures and snapping at one another. By the end, most of the virtual cameras of city lawmakers had been turned off, and many of the participants sounded exhausted.
In the final speeches, Mayor Mike Coffman and councilmembers Danielle Jurinsky, Bergan and Alison Coombs all shared their opinions on the situation, concluding the night with a “grand finale.”
“This is completely unhinged,” Coombs said. “I cannot believe that we are in a meeting of the City Council of the City of Aurora where members of the public have come to speak to us, and we’re raising all kinds of claims about their legal status, debt status and personally attacking them. I am speechless.”
She said that former Mayor Steve Hogan would have never treated people this way, even if he thought they were ill-informed and disrespectful.
Coffman pushed back, accusing the Lewis family of using contrivances to seek money from Lewis’ death.
“Our city attorney, under the request of counsel, the majority of council basically said, we’re not going to settle cases that don’t have merit, and this officer-involved shooting does not,” Coffman said, explaining that the officer in the shooting was cleared in multiple investigations. “We are not writing a check.”
As of now, there have been no changes to the meeting being held virtually, and the “public invited to be heard” session is still cancelled until the lawsuit between Kilyn Lewis’ family and the city is finalized.
Hearings in the new lawsuit between Shofner and the city have not been set yet.
Shofner’s attorney, McNulty, told the Sentinel that responses from the city for a court date are due by July 18 and replies are due by July 25.
Alison Coombs appears to function as an enabler of these individuals so devoid of any level of personal self-esteem and purpose that the only way they can add meaning to their empty lives is to function as a disruptor to every Aurora City Council meeting. Get a life folks!
Do you think Alison Coombs, the gay socialist, is consulting with these radical phone callers? If so, is this legal? If not legal, can something legal be done to eliminate her from Council? She has become as much of a Council problem as the radicals. Don’t believe that? Just watch the tape of the June 23, 2025 meeting. Zero in on the part where she is talking to Council while laughing and playing with her child. Not very professional.
Knowing Steve Hogan fairly well, I have a completely different feeling of how he would have handled this negative situation than what Alison Coombs believes. No one knows for sure but Becky Hogan would know best. Ask her.
Stay strong City Council. If the radicals continue, good political analysts will play all this chaos against their friendly candidates in the November elections.
I suspect this is why, socialist, Rueben Medina stays so silent. The socialist, childish legislator, Murillo, just doesn’t know any better than to be quiet. But then, it appears she isn’t running, again. Her best move in years.
It was a mistake to not arrest and jail them the first time they disrupted an official city proceeding. Ditto anyone else doing same. Every resident of Aurora is harmed when a meeting is disrupted. Throw the book at them.
No settlement payouts. Demand the judge quash this ongoing circus and expedite the trial on the lawsuit.
Never negotiate with terrorists. NEVER!
So MiDian Shofner, hires a couple lawyers to file a lawsuit against the city because she claims the city has muzzled her. The article represents Shofner as the deeply aggrieved innocent citizen just wanting to say her thoughts and move on. Despite the pleadings in the case to which this article’s main focus is on, the name Midan Z. Holmes is listed as the plaintiff, not Shofner. It might be helpful to figure out when to use MiDian Shofner.
Against a laundry list in the [pleadings she is asking for 1) “actual economic damages” huh, interesting claim? 2) Compensatory damages, really?
She asks for “mandatory training designed to avoid future misconduct” by the city. Give me a break.
And by all means, “attorney’s fees and cost” That’s the driving force.
What’s fascinating about all this is she managed in her busy activist schedule to make herself a defendant in another Federal lawsuit filed last year. This time however, she is a defendant for being involved, thus conspiring and ganging up with… you know him… you love him, Anton’ Anderson, and Hashim Coates, campaign manager for Anderson. (all named as defendants) These people felt they had the right to abuse a woman Kristen Fry at a Denver Public Schools meeting. Mountain States Legal has sued MiDian and the others for creating a false narrative and damaging Fry’s reputation, along with abuse of Fry’s first amendment rights at a public meeting.
Certainly, looks like she wants to play both sides of the issue. Take away somebody’s 1st amendment and bully them and then cross the city border into Aurora and declare victim status for the same thing. The evolution of these two cases will uncover and reveal which MiDian we have watched. She is running out of runway and valuable opportunity, maybe she should be an actress, not a activist.
https://www.9news.com/article/news/education/woman-accused-of-assault-at-school-board-meeting-files-lawsuit-alleging-wrongfully-accused/73-b388e775-a3ec-4e3b-8864-3e333b4e5b75
Regardless of where one stands on the specific tactics used, it’s important to recognize that the right to public comment is a cornerstone of transparent, democratic governance. Aurora’s decision to suspend the “public invited to be heard” portion of city council meetings — particularly during a time of heightened public concern — sends the wrong message to residents who are seeking accountability and answers.
MiDian Shofner and others have continued to engage through the limited channels available, which speaks to their commitment to being heard rather than silenced. The fact that Aurora remains under a consent decree for patterns of excessive force against people of color should remind us that public oversight is not only warranted, but necessary.
Rather than restricting public input, the city should look for ways to foster trust and constructive engagement. Listening with openness — even when conversations are difficult — is a critical part of healing and good governance.