Newly-released court documents and police interrogation videos show former Commerce City police officer Kevin Lord never confessed to staging his own shooting and lied until the very end. Lord even falsely identified a man as the suspect he claimed was the gunman.
Lord was shot in Commerce City on November 8, 2015. He told investigators he was shot by a man near 96th and Peoria Street.
Police issued a "blue alert" for the alleged suspect vehicle, investigators created a sketch of the suspect and officers said they searched numerous neighborhoods. There was even a $20,000 reward issued for information in the case.
But five days later, on November 13, Lord was arrested and investigators announced Lord had not been shot during a traffic stop, like he claimed.
In a newly-released police interrogation video from the day he was arrested.
In the video, detectives show Lord a photo-lineup.
At first, Lord positively identified one of the suspects in the line-up.
In the video you can hear the following discussion:
Investigator: "What was your reaction when you saw that?"
Lord: "I was pretty positive ….
Investigator: "How positive?"
Lord: "90 percent."
Fifteen minutes into the interview, Lord's story changes.
Investigator: "We wanna catch the right guy, we don't wanna arrest the wrong person and beside that there's all the expense that goes into that too and, yeah know, that expense is nothing if it means we're gonna be able to catch the person that shot yeah, but we've got your fellow officers from commerce city they're ready to go, what would you tell them about that?"
Lord: "I would have to say it's nobody in this line up."
Investigator: "Now why are you changing?"
Lord: "Well, like I said his hair is if you will, I'm trying to picture him from the side … his hair, his ears is correct but nothing else is."
A short time later, he's back to his original story - sure enough to sign-off on police making the arrest.
Investigators: "Would you feel comfortable in having your fellow officers, detectives at Commerce City go out and arrest this guy?"
Lord: "Go to … go to where …"
Investigator: "Go to where he's at?" Yeah."
Lord: "Yeah, absolutely."
Investigator: "You would feel comfortable with them arresting that guy based on 80-85 percent?"
Lord: "Yes."
Investigator: "Ok."
At the end of the 30 minute interview, police arrest Lord. Forensic evidence showed he staged the crime scene and shot himself with his back-up gun.
The whole ordeal cost taxpayers more than $38,000 as police across the state searched for a gunman, who was never actually on the loose.
In court last week, Lord said he served faithfully during his two-decade career, but said he suffered from PTSD after a concussion and fighting with suspects.
The judge pointed out that millions of police officers don't handle their mental health issues the way Lord did.
"The terms of this plea agreement and sentence will assure that Mr. Lord will never be allowed to be police officer again,” said District Attorney Dave Young in a statement sent to Denver7.
The judge sentenced Lord to 36 months probation, a mental health evaluation and 500 hours of community service.
