The bodycam footage showing an officer’s fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado, has been released.
The footage shows members of the Aurora Police Department chasing 14-year-old Jor’Dell Richardson last week after he ran from police while officers were investigating suspicious activity on June 1, according to The Denver Post.
Jor’Dell was shot in the stomach following the foot chase when the officers thought he had a handgun.
Aurora Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a news conference that the weapon was actually a pellet gun.
Video shows Officers Roch Gruszeczka and James Snapp in a squad car pulling up to a convenience store they saw a group of teenagers wearing hoodies and medical masks running out of. When they saw the scene, Gruszeczka said, “They just shoplifted out of there. I’m going to light them up.”
Both Snapp and Gruszeczka pull over and begin chasing Jor’Dell. On Snapp’s bodyworn camera, he is seen chasing Jor’Dell into an alley and yelling, “Get on the ground you f–king idiot!” before tackling him to the ground.
Once Snapp pins Jor’Dell to the ground, Jor’Dell is heard yelling, “Stop, please! You got me!”
Gruszeczka, who followed both Snapp and Jor’Dell into the alley, spotted a gun and yelled, “Gun! Gun! Let go of the f–king gun! I’m going to shoot your a–! Dude I’m going to shoot you!” all while Jor’Dell is pinned to the ground.
Just seconds later, Gruszeczka shoots Jor’Dell. Jor’Dell is heard screaming after the shot is fired and yelling, “I’m sorry! I’m done! Help me. Take me to the hospital! I can’t breathe! Help!”
Gruszeczka then calls for medical assistance and reports that shots were fired.
While breathing hard, Jor’Dell says, “They made me do it. I didn’t know who they were. They made me do it,” while Snapp handcuffs Jor’Dell. The teen is heard asking for help and requests the officers to take a face mask off.
The officers ask Jor’Dell if he has any more weapons on him to which Jor’Dell responds, “No.” They start asking him a number of other questions, like his name and his birthday, during which Jor’Dell loses consciousness.
While the teen is unresponsive, one officer searches him. A moment later, both decide to start CPR, and Snapp urges Jor’Dell to stay awake.
An EMS officer arrives seconds later and takes over. He continues conducting CPR. More first responders arrive as well as other police officers. Gruszeczka is heard saying, “God, please be with that kid,” as he walks away from the shooting scene.
The rest of the footage shows police cars and first responders in the area around the scene.
Jor’Dell later died of his injuries at a hospital. Following the shooting, police say he was involved in an armed robbery at a convenience store where he flashed a pellet gun at a clerk. He and a few other teens reportedly stole vape canisters from the store.
During the time police chased and shot Jor’Dell, officers did not know that he had committed a robbery. Police Chief Acevedo said the pellet gun the teen carried looked like an HK USP 9 mm handgun.
Two other 14-year-olds have been taken into custody and face false imprisonment and aggravated robbery charges. Police have identified other suspects who fled in a stolen Kia Sedona minivan but have yet to apprehend them.
Attorneys for Jor’Dell’s family said his family is “traumatized by the shooting death of a boy they loved,” and they’re left with “more questions than answers” after viewing the videos.
“My life is forever ruined,” Jor’Dell’s mother, Laurie Littlejohn, said in a press conference. “To know that the police didn’t even try to think twice, that he was a child and that he’s human, people make mistakes. They didn’t give him a chance to redeem himself, to suffer the consequences of his actions, and to be able to move on. In life, we make mistakes so we can grow. They took that from my son.”
“My son died in the dirty alley, scared,” Jor’Dell’s father, Jameco Richardson, said.
Jameco Richardson called for Acevedo’s resignation. Acevedo apparently told family members that Jor’Dell didn’t suffer before he died, which the family found insulting. During his news conference, Acevedo confirmed that he told the family that.
Chief Acevedo also reported that neither Officer Snapp nor Officer Gruszeczka had a “significant” use-of-force record or disciplinary history.
However, Gruszeczka was a defendant in a 2020 lawsuit that detailed how he and two other Aurora police officers conducted an unlawful search and seizure and violated one Black man’s Fourth Amendment rights. The man, Tevon Thomas filed a legal complaint.
On November 2018, Thomas was being dropped off at his apartment complex at 3 a.m. by a female friend. She parked the car and left it on while the two continued to talk.
A resident returning home from work at 4 a.m. saw the car outside running and called police to be escorted for her safety. After three police officers responded and walked her to her apartment, they drove up behind the car Thomas was in and began questioning him and the woman in the vehicle.
“When Mr. Thomas began to answer, ‘my mother stays—’ he was interrupted by Defendant Gruszeczka, who demanded to know ‘honestly, where do you guys live at?’” the complaint says.
Police took their identification cards and placed the woman in the back of the police vehicle. Gruszeczka and the other officers ordered Thomas out of the vehicle and after seeing the handle of a pistol in his pocket, drew their guns and ordered him to lie down on the ground. He complied, and the officers handcuffed, searched and arrested him. The suit argued that the officers had no justification to search the car since Thomas and his friend weren’t doing anything illegal at the time.
The city ended up settling for $100,000 in February of this year.
Gruszeczka has been placed on administrative leave pending an ongoing investigation into the shooting of Jor’Dell.
