AURORA | The first night of Aurora City Council meetings back in person after months of hiatus drew a nearly-full council chamber filled with the usual controversial issues, an unruffled decorum and virtually no disruptions.
The meeting was the first time in weeks city lawmakers met in person after a majority conservative members of the city council agreed to make council meetings “virtual” through streaming software in response to regular meeting disruptions by protesters. The protests have for more than a year been created by family, friends and activists linked to the 2024 police shooting of Kilyn Lewis during his arrest in Aurora.
Monday’s meeting was also the final meeting for four outgoing city lawmakers, three of which were turned back by voters in the Nov. 4 Election.
The night started with an early press conference held by MiDian Shofner, an activist who has been demanding police reform in Aurora and surrounding communities for more than a year. She was joined by multiple families of Black men, who have died in Aurora, mostly at the hands of police, for what Shofner calls Aurora’s “broken conditions.”
The group of families “whose loved ones have been killed, harmed or devastated by systemic injustice,” organizers said before they gathered at Aurora City Center before the council meeting. The group demanded preventive state legislation and changed enforcement of the Aurora Consent Decree.
Protesters said they wanted to inform incoming city council members that “they were not elected to return Aurora to the past or maintain the current broken conditions,” a statement from Shofner said.
Then, during the “public invited to be heard,” individual comments ranged from details of their loved ones’ deaths at the hands of Aurora Police to people gloating at the ousted city council members about losing their election battles.
The speakers blew through the 30-minute-limit for the public listening session, which allowed them each only two minutes to speak. With seven people left wanting to comment publicly to the city council, Councilmember Alison Coombs motioned to suspend council rules to allow the last seven people to have their chance.
The rest of the council voted unanimously in favor of the exception, an abrupt departure from months of city lawmakers publicly admonishing speakers and limiting access to the public microphone. The regular names and faces standing at the lectern also refrained from what had become over the past year frequent disruptive behavior.
There were still personal attacks by members of the public directed at council members and other attendees. A couple of people talked past their allotted two minute limit, including LaRonda Jones, Kilyn Lewis’ mother, who came from Georgia for the meeting. And the room did get tense occasionally as the audience reacted to inflammatory remarks from public speakers, but for the most part, people were much better behaved than in many of the previous meetings.
The meeting was the final public session for outgoing council members Danielle Jurinsky, Amsalu Kassaw, Steve Sundberg, all Republicans who lost their Nov. 4 Election contests, and Crystal Murillo, a Democrat declining to run for re-election this year. At the next meeting in December, new Democratic members Alli Jackson, Rob Andrews, Gianina Horton and Amy Wiles take their place. The results of the election earlier this month will remake the political makeup of the dais.
Jurinsky, a regular verbal target for many of the protesters, was not at Monday’s meeting.
Still, the ongoing friction between city officials and families and activists demanding police reform will apparently continue.
Family members of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield, Kilyn Lewis and Kory Dillard, were all killed by Aurora police officers. They joined family and friends of Jalin Seabron, who was killed by a Douglas County deputy, and Joseph Jones, who was struck by a hit-and-run driver a year ago. They are all referred to by Shofner, who announced that they wanted “accountability” from lawmakers by state legislation and changed enforcement of the Aurora consent decree.
“Colorado is in a crisis of injustice,” Shofner said. “There are countless families who have been failed by systems that are supposed to be designed to protect, to honor, to serve and to atone when there’s justice that is required.”
Belt-Stubblefield, 37, was killed Aug. 30 after during a traffic stop that turned into a two-car crash and confrontation between Belt-Stubblefield and an Aurora police officer. The confrontation resulted in Belt-Stubblefield tossing a gun into a grassy area adjacent to the street. It ended with the officer shooting Belt-Stubblefield three times while Belt-Stubblefield was no longer holding the gun.
“He was a person,” Tandra Belt-Stubblefield, Rajon’s wife, said. “He was not perfect, but he brought joy, and that joy is gone now. Whatever the infraction or circumstance, execution in the street is not just. We all deserve more than that.”
Kilyn Lewis, 37, was killed while being arrested by an Aurora SWAT unit May 23, 2024, in connection with a Denver shooting. Lewis raised his hands above his head, holding his cell phone in one hand. Aurora police SWAT officer Michael Dieck fired one fatal shot at Lewis. During later investigations, Dieck said he mistook the cell phone for a gun during the arrest.
“Justice and hope look a little brighter now that we have voted in people who I believe will fight with us to bring about change that is so desperately needed in these communities.” Lewis’ mother, Jones, said.
Kory Dillard, 37, was killed by an Aurora officer Oct. 3, 2024, after he brought out an airsoft gun that looked like an AK-47 to get an acquaintance to leave his apartment complex after a confrontation between the two. While he was walking around the parking lot of the complex, multiple witnesses called the police to say a man was walking around with an AK-47 and pointing it at people. Dillard had locked himself out of his apartment with the gun in hand, and while he was talking to a neighbor to ask them to let him in, the police arrived and yelled at him to drop the weapon. Dillard, looking distracted, lifted and pointed the gun at the officer, causing him to shoot and kill Dillard.
“Justice delayed is justice denied. His family will not stop fighting for the accountability he deserves,” Sarina Ouellette, from Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee (DACAC), said.
Jalin Seabron, 23, was shot and killed by a deputy in Douglas County Feb. 8 outside the Main Event arcade bar in Highlands Ranch. A fight and shooting broke out inside the bar. Seabron was not the one who fired shots inside the bar. When the deputy showed up, he saw Seabron pointing a gun at multiple people. He yelled commands to Seabron, who did not comply, and then the deputy shot Seabron seven times after Seabron pointed his gun at the deputy.
“This is something we cannot stand for. This is something that our Colorado legislation has to change,” Veronica Seabron said Monday. “We need to come together and unite and become more than just a mile high as we stand together, all of us mothers who have suffered. It is in different counties, but one fight, different children, one fight.”
Joseph Jones, 40, was reportedly struck by a hit-and-run driver Nov. 15, 2024, at 10:45 p.m. at Sable Boulevard and East Ellsworth Avenue, according to a witness and police reports. While Jones was lying in the street, he was struck by an RTD bus and dragged 1,000 feet without the driver realizing it, according to police and RTD reports. The crash apparently received only minimal media attention and no subsequent public police investigation into the hit-and-run culprit.
“I could not go past a year of my son not being noticed in the media,” Brigette Jones, Joseph’s mother, said. “His name was never out there. His face was never released.”
Shofner called Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain, Aurora City Manager Jason Batchelor, 17th Judicial District Attorney Brian Mason, 18th Judicial District Attorney Amy Padden, Attorney General Phil Weiser and Senator Michael Bennett, along with all of the new councilmembers in a roll call for the people they say they will “hold accountable” to make changes to the Aurora consent decree and in legislation that they want to see.
“So when they are telling us that they are breaking no law, and you are the lawmakers, that problem now becomes your problem,” Shofner said.
I believe that police reform should be as transparent as possible. I also know that several actions by police have been way over the top with respect to the particular treatment of people of color. We have an issue with deescalation and it must be addressed. However, conflating the shooting of a man – any man – after he grabs an AK-47 replica and threatens police with real issues of police violence requires common sense. Both sides need to come together and understand that police should attempt deescalation first, but subsequent actions by suspects may require fatal police action.
If you want an indication of the quality of individuals being lionized, look no further than the race-baiting grifters who are prominently representing them: Shofner, the convicted child abuser. Coates, guilty of prohibited use of a weapon after firing a gun into a car carrying a male prostitute and three others, including children. And of course, the disgraced former DPS board-member-turned-street-preaching-cosplayer Anderson, who still refuses accountability for his board misconduct, including inappropriate advances toward underage students.
And a suggestion for anyone else hoping to win the Litigation Lottery someday: Try this instead. Obey lawful orders. Don’t approach an officer in a fighting stance when he has his gun drawn on you in defense. Don’t reach into your waistband and pull out any object. And definitely don’t point an AK-47 (replica or not) at any police officer and expect not to be shot.
Meanwhile Aurora and its retail/dining economy continue to slide downhill– forcing City Council to close facilities and borrow money for basic street maintenance. Its simply not sustainable.
What percentage of the city’s population of ~400,000 would materially benefit by further oversight of APD? Maybe a few tenths of 1%? Will the politicians admit that this is true?
What percentage of the city’s population would materially benefit by bringing the level of retail activity up to Average and in doing so provide a $40 to 50 million/year boost to the city’s collection of retail sales tax? All 100%. Will the politicians even acknowledge the opportunity here?
Speaking as a pragmatically moderate Independent, it certainly seems time for City Council to refocus on the city’s abysmal retail/dining economy.