Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
A shooting death inside a Northglenn home has been deemed self-defense and no criminal charges will be filed.
According to a joint release from the Adams County District Attorney’s Office and the Northglenn Police Department, a man at the residence had reason to believe the person he shot was going to hurt him or two women at the scene.
About 12:10 p.m. Saturday police responded to a home in the 11700 block of Delaware Court on a disturbance, according to the release.
Officers found a 19-year-old man, later identified as Angel Escobar, suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. A man at the scene was taken into custody as part of an investigation.
Escobar, according to the release, was allegedly “engaged in a physical altercation with his girlfriend” at the residence when the man who was investigated for the shooting intervened. The Denver Post is not identifying the man because authorities determined not to file charges against him.
The man attempted to remove the girlfriend from the home for her own safety and take her to her parents’ house, the release said. Escobar allegedly became combative and punched the man in the face. They wrestled on the ground outside the home, and then Escobar got to his feet and threatened the man, saying that he was going to kill him.
Escobar allegedly pushed another woman at the scene to the ground, injuring her ankle. Meanwhile, police were responding to the scene.
Escobar, according to the release, heard police sirens as officers approached and said: “If I’m going to go to jail, I’m going for a reason. I’m going to kill everyone.”
He then physically ripped off the front storm door and entered the residence, the release stated.
Escobar allegedly told the man: “Sorry, you’re going to have to be the first one to die,” according to the release. Fearing Escobar had a gun in the residence and was going to get it, the man retrieved a handgun from his bedroom. Escobar went to his bedroom and came back out “with something black in his hand and raised it.”
The man, thinking Escobar was armed, and fearing for his life, shot Escobar multiple times, the release said.
“The investigation revealed that Mr. Escobar did not possess a weapon at the time of the shooting,” according to the release. The release did not disclose, or explain, what the black object was in Escobar’s hand.
The release stated that Colorado law provides for people to have a right to defend themselves from “the use or imminent use of unlawful physical force” and that to file charges in this case, prosecutors would have to prove the man was not acting in self-defense when he shot Escobar.
As a result of the investigation and in consideration of the law, the release stated, the police department and the district attorney’s office agreed that no charges should be filed in this case because the man was acting in self-defense.