Colorado sheriff’s deputy Nicholas Moore had already killed two people in the line of duty when he killed a Black man named Jalin Seabron by shooting him in the back within seconds of pulling up to an active shooting scene in his patrol car last year.
But Seabron was not the active shooter.
The 23-year-old man, in fact, was a legal gun owner who was trying to protect his pregnant girlfriend during a chaotic scene at an entertainment venue called the Main Event in Highlands Ranch. Seabron, who worked as a security guard and had no criminal record, was celebrating his birthday that night. It is also legal to open carry in Colorado.
On Monday, Seabron’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Moore and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
“This use of deadly force was a complete collapse of judgment and training,” Tyrone Glover, the attorney representing Seabron’s family, said in a statement to local media.
“Mr. Seabron’s back was to the deputy with his weapon pointed at the ground when the deputy rushed from behind him and used lethal force. Mr. Seabron leaves behind his family, girlfriend, and newborn son, who was born after his death and will never know his father.”
The shooting took place on Feb. 8, 2025, after Moore was the first deputy to pull up to the scene in response to the active shooter call.
Body camera video shows Moore driving into the parking lot with a rifle on his lap, then stepping out of his patrol car, where he spots Seabron holding a gun towards the ground with his back to the deputy about to step into the passenger seat of a car.
“Hey! Drop the gun! Drop the gun now! Drop it!” before firing nine shots, striking Seabron seven times, killing him instantly.
Deputy Moore was cleared of any wrongdoing by the district attorney’s office after claiming he was in fear for his life, insisting Seabron turned and made eye contact with him, but that is debatable when watching the video.
“He turns to me and felt like he was either gonna shoot me or someone else.” Moore stated in his interview with investigators, according to the 17-page report from the district attorney’s office.
“With the limited information that I had, I felt he had just shot up a business, and possible patrons inside there. I did not want to give him another opportunity to shoot more people. I was trying to give him an opportunity to comply.”
Watch the video below.
‘Deadly Miscalculation’
Seabron’s family, as well as the Denver Justice Project, a nonprofit focused on police reform, believe Moore should have been charged, pointing out the double standards in an open carry state between white gun owners and Black gun owners.
“Moore drove to the scene with an assault rifle resting on his lap, ready to shoot on sight,” the Denver Justice Project wrote in an 8-page report on the shooting published last year.
“He made no attempt to evaluate the situation or distinguish between victims and threats before resorting to deadly force. Jalin was struck seven times in the side and back. He never fired his weapon. This was not a moment of uncertainty—it was a deadly miscalculation, a rushed and fatal decision made without discernment.”
“Open carry is legal. Jalin’s lawful possession of a firearm did not equate to a threat, nor was there evidence of hostile intent toward law enforcement.”
The Denver Justice Project also reported that Moore had been involved in two other shootings in 2022, resulting in death for those victims, but they did not provide details of those shootings.
“Moore fired his weapon in two separate officer-involved shootings in 2022, both of which resulted in death,” the report states.
“Jalin Seabron was executed not for breaking the law, but for being a Black man with a gun in a county that prides itself on protecting those very rights—when they are a privilege for some and a death sentence for others.”
‘Racist Double Standard’
The actual active shooter was his half-sister, Nevaeha Crowley-Sanders, who had pulled out a gun in the women’s bathroom inside Main Event during a confrontation with another woman. She fired several shots, wounding a 22-year-old woman, prompting people to run out of the center in panic.
She was arrested and is still awaiting trial on five counts of attempted murder along with many other related felonies.
But the Denver Justice Project insists that she could have been arrested without having to kill Seabron.
“Jalin Seabron’s death was not the result of a lone mistake—it was the direct result of a system operating exactly as it was built: one that criminalizes Black people for defending themselves, protects violent officers from accountability, and upholds a racist double standard in the enforcement of gun rights and use of force,” states their report.
“Jalin’s case fits a broader national pattern of unarmed or legally armed Black men being killed by police. In 2024 alone, law enforcement killed at least 1,365 people in the U.S.—the highest number in over a decade. Black individuals were 2.9 times more likely than white individuals to be killed by police.”
“Until law enforcement officers are charged and prosecuted for killing people—under the same legal standards that apply to everyone else—these deadly patterns will continue. The protections promised under the law mean little when DAs routinely uphold a culture of impunity, shielding officers from consequences and denying justice to those they kill.”
Glover, the attorney representing Seabron’s family, agreed.
“Without verifying whether Mr. Seabron actually posed a threat, or providing Mr. Seabron a reasonable opportunity to comply with commands, Defendant Moore fired nine rounds from his AR-style semi-automatic rifle into Mr. Seabron’s back and left side,” Glover wrote in the lawsuit.
