Victims of a mass shooting are questioning why Denver police officers shot into a crowded downtown area at a man who was not firing his gun, injuring half a dozen innocent people.
Yekalo Weldehiwet, 26, said he lost mobility in his right arm after three officers opened seven rounds of gunfire on Jordan Waddy after 1 a.m. on July 17. Law enforcement officials said Waddy had a handgun and pointed the muzzle at patrol officers pursuing him on foot after he got into a fight outside the Larimer Beer Hall.
Weldehiwet had been celebrating his brother’s fiancée’s birthday at the Larimer Beer Hall when he heard gunshots, ducked and started running.
“Then we were trying to get into the parking lot, and the next thing you know, we heard the second bullet — the second gunshot. It landed right behind my bicep and fractured my bone,” he said.
Weldehiwet said he did not know it was a police shooting until days after it occurred. Doctors said Weldehiwet’s humerus bone was shattered, and he will need surgery to install a plate in his arm.
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Five other bystanders and the suspect were also shot in the incident. Bailey Alexander, 24, said she was shot in soft tissue near her shoulder blade. She didn’t know that officers were the ones who fired the shots until she saw the news.
Police said they found a 10mm handgun they allege belongs to Waddy at the scene, but there is no evidence that he fired the gun he was holding. Officials said they recovered the weapon with one bullet in the chamber with the hammer cocked and seven shots in the magazine.
Guillermo Cortes told the Denver Post he was standing near Larimer Beer Hall along with dozens of other people. He saw two men get into a fight and at least two Denver police officers followed one of them.
Cortes said he saw the officers shoot the man and he fell to the ground, but he said he did not see the man holding a weapon or heard the officers give any warnings.
“I’m pretty sure we would’ve been shot had we been standing in the wrong spot,” Cortes said.
Weldehiwet said he asked officers who visited him in the hospital if they caught the person who shot him, not knowing the whole story.
“To find out the next day that it was actually the police, and the suspect had not fired anything at all, at that moment, I felt unsafe. For them to shoot in a mass crowd like that with uncertainty — it blew my mind. That kind of spiraled into asking a bunch of questions as to why they did that,” he said. “I am angry. I am frustrated. I am in pain. I am all of the above for sure.”
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