An Aurora Police Department officer who shot and killed a 37-year-old man who was pointing an airsoft gun at him acted reasonably and will not face criminal charges, the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said Friday.
Officer Kevin Rodier was one of two uniformed officers first to arrive on scene after someone reported a fight near East 16th Avenue and Oswego Street on Oct. 3, 2024, District Attorney Brian Mason wrote in a 15-page decision letter.
The encounter started around 2 p.m. when someone staying at Brent’s Place, a long-term residence for families of people hospitalized with critical illnesses, called 911 about two men fighting in the parking lot.
A witness told police that one of the men, later identified as Kory Dillard, had tried to carjack the second man after that man’s car broke down in the middle of the road.
Witnesses told police Dillard then walked across the street to Elm Grove Apartments and went into a second-floor unit. He came back to the parking lot with a rifle, which he started pointing at people, investigators said.
Dillard was standing near the entrance to the apartment building when Rodier and his partner drove up in an unmarked truck, got out, drew their firearms and ordered him to drop the gun.
Dillard was also standing near a woman who told police he threatened to kill her, investigators wrote.
Rodier fired his gun twice after Dillard raised the rifle and pointed it at the officers. The rifle did not have the required orange tip that distinguishes airsoft, or pellet, guns from standard guns.
Dillard later died from a gunshot to the abdomen and had more than four times the legal limit of alcohol in his system at the time of his death, according to the decision letter.
Dillard’s girlfriend told police he struggled with mental illness and she believed he wanted police to shoot him.
In the decision letter, Mason described Dillard’s death as a tragedy.
“…Officer Rodier had no choice but to protect himself and others from what he perceived as a life-threatening situation,” Mason wrote. “…Under these circumstances, the evidence supports a conclusion that Officer Rodier was justified in using reasonable force.”
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