An Aurora police officer shot and killed a man in mid-May after responding to a suspicious person call and being tackled to the ground by the suspect, Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said at a news conference Thursday.

The suspect was identified by the Adams County Coroner’s Office as 32-year-old Rashaud Terrelle Johnson. 

The incident started around 3 p.m. May 12 when Aurora911 got a call about a suspicious person trespassing at an offsite airport parking lot, The Parking Spot, in the 19900 block of East 56th Avenue. 

The caller, who is the manager of The Parking Spot, said there was a man checking vehicle door handles in their lot, according to Chamberlain. He seemed to be under the influence of drugs and refused to leave, the caller told the dispatcher, adding that the man did not appear to be armed but started trying to fight employees and patrons.  

An officer responded at about 5:15 p.m. and tried to talk to Johnson, who was “walking aimlessly” and “not listening to verbal requests,” Chamberlain said.

The officer tried to de-escalate the situation verbally, telling Johnson he wasn’t in trouble and trying to understand what was happening. Instead of responding, Johnson walked toward the officer, who hit Johnson with his baton and stepped back to use a taser to try to get him under control.

In the body camera footage, Johnson is then seen running toward the officer and tackling him to the ground. 

Chamberlain said Johnson tried to get the officer’s gun out of his belt and succeeded in getting the magazine from him. 

While the officer fought with Johnson, the original 911 caller called Aurora911 again to tell him the officer needed help. She is heard in the 911 call saying “he’s wrestling the police. The cop is in trouble. He got tackled by the gentleman.”

In the body camera footage, the officer is heard trying to de-escalate the situation after being pushed to the ground, telling Johnson that he is not in trouble and telling him to stop.

During the struggle, Johnson allegedly tried to pull the officer’s vest up over his eyes so he couldn’t see, Chamberlain said. 

The body camera footage shows the officer eventually standing up and getting away from Johnson, pulling his gun out and pointing it at Johnson, who continues to walk toward the officer as the officer backs away into a fence. 

Johnson charged at the officer again, Chamberlain said, at which point the officer shot him at about 5:30 p.m. He was taken to the hospital for treatment and died shortly after getting to the hospital.

About five minutes later, Denver police officers responded because they were closer than Aurora’s officers. 

Chamberlain called the situation a “very strange, unique” case, saying Johnson didn’t appear to have an extensive criminal history.

Johnson’s dad was shown the footage on Friday, Chamberlain added. 

Only one officer responded to the call initially because most trespassing calls do not result in violence like that on May 12, Chamberlain said. In 2024, Aurora got more than 7,000 trespassing calls and “very, very few of them end up like this,” he said.

“If our officers treated every incident like this as a major high profile case, we wouldn’t be able to serve Aurora the way we do,” he said, adding that Aurora is growing and its officers are already spread thin.

Chamberlain emphasized the lack of other support services for mental health issues and substance abuse, calling into question the effectiveness of the system in which police usually respond to situations like the one in May.

“Why aren’t there systems in place other than law enforcement to address these issues?” Chamberlain asked. “Why is law enforcement the de facto response? There are no facilities right now to support those individuals, if that’s what this was.”

Investigations into the incident are ongoing with the 17th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team and, separately, with the Aurora Police Department’s Internal Investigations Bureau.

The officer, who has been with the Aurora Police Department for about four years, according to Chamberlain, will be on paid administrative leave in accordance with agency policy.

The news conference following the shooting comes about a week after the family of Kilyn Lewis filed a lawsuit against the city for wrongful death. Lewis was shot and killed by an Aurora police officer last May while officers were trying to arrest him on an active warrant. Lewis was unarmed.