This undated booking photograph provided by the Denver Police Department swhos 40-year-old Dion Damon, a bank robbery suspect who was not armed but was fatally shot in a parked car by a Denver Police Department officer only a block from City Hall during the lunchtime rush on Tuesday, April 12, 2016. (The Denver Police Department via AP) (The Associated Press)
DENVER – A bank robbery suspect wasn't armed when he was fatally shot in a parked car by an officer on a downtown street during the busy lunchtime rush, police said Wednesday.
The veteran officer fired at least seven shots after the suspect made a "threatening-type maneuver" and refused to show his hands as police moved in to arrest him, Major Crimes Cmdr. Ron Saunier said.
The Monday shooting happened near the state Capitol and just steps from City Hall.
A task force had been following the suspect, who was wanted in a March 17 bank robbery in which victims were ordered to the ground at gunpoint.
The medical examiner's office identified the man killed as 40-year-old Dion Damon.
Officers chose to arrest Damon downtown because he had a lengthy criminal past and they wanted to get him off the street as soon as possible, Saunier said.
Police waited for a woman and child who had been traveling with him to leave the car before boxing him in with their vehicles, he said.
Damon's silver sedan had heavily tinted windows, so the officer who fired, Jeff Motz, moved to the windshield to get a better view inside.
Motz, a 22-year-veteran of the SWAT team, believed the man had a gun and shot into the windshield after he refused to get out of the car, Saunier said.
Investigators did not find a gun on Damon or inside his car.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
