DENVER – The man shot and killed by police Tuesday evening had apparently threatened his mother, carjacked a couple, and broke into a random house before he allegedly charged officers with a knife and was killed.
Denver Police Commander Barb Archer hosted a news conference Friday afternoon in which she gave more details about what led up to the deadly police shooting of Alex Duran, 29.
Archer said that Duran’s mother was the first to call police Tuesday, when she told dispatch around 5:30 p.m. that her son was “acting erratic,” breaking items in the house, and threatening her with a knife at her home in the 3100 block of W. Dakota.
Archer said Duran left the home around 5:44. About 10 minutes later, Archer said, dispatch was called again when two people reported that a man, now believed to have been Duran, had carjacked them at knifepoint on S. Federal and driven off with their vehicle.
Just a minute later, according to Archer, he crashed the vehicle into a set of trash cans in the 1800 block of S. Bryant, then kicked in a family’s door in the 1800 block of S. Alcott.
Archer said there were two adults and a child inside the home at the time. They ran outside and called 911.
Police arrived to the home at 6:06 p.m., Archer said, and contacted Duran, who refused to leave a bedroom inside the home. They planned for how to take him into custody and prepared with less-lethal options, Archer said.
But after about 45 minutes of negotiating through the closed bedroom door, Duran allegedly burst through and ran toward the District 4 officers armed with the knife.
Archer said one officer, identified as Corporal John Albergotti, fired his weapon at Duran, hitting him. Duran was taken to an area hospital, where he died.
Archer said Albergotti is a 19-year veteran of the force, and that is was unclear how many rounds Albergotti fired. The shooting is being investigated by a joint team that includes the Aurora Police Department and the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
Duran had a lengthy criminal history in Colorado, according to state court records.
In his most-recent criminal case, Duran was charged in August 2016 with four felonies – including attempted first-degree murder – and two sentence enhancers for using a weapon in a violent crime. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
However, all the charges were dismissed without prejudice in March 2017 after witnesses in the case refused to cooperate, according to Denver District Attorney’s Office spokesman Ken Lane.
Duran also had separate convictions on assault and theft charges out of Walsenburg over the past 10 years.
