Jury acquits livestreaming photographer who ignored police orders during Boulder grocery store shooting
A Boulder man who found himself at the scene of a mass shooting at a Boulder grocery store prior to police officers' arrival was acquitted Thursday of interfering with their response.
Dean Schiller, 44, of Boulder, refused 60 commands to leave the area, according to the arrest affidavit in the case. His livestream of the tragedy lasted more than three hours.
A Boulder County jury found him not guilty of a misdemeanor obstruction charge.
"In the initial moments" of the March 22, 2021 event, "Schiller ran around the building and warned individuals about the active shooter within the King Soopers" located in the Table Mesa Shopping Center, as stated in the affidavit.
Schiller identified himself to responding officer as a journalist but "did not remain with other members of the media outside of the crime scene," it continued.
"No f***ing way I'm leaving," he reportedly told officers, per the affidavit. "It's worth it to get arrested for this one."
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Ten people inside the supermarket were killed by the gunman, including Boulder Officer Eric Talley. Schiller's livestream showed victims of the shooting, both the injured evacuating from the store and bodies of the deceased lying in place. Schiller apologized during his livestream's narrative for showing the bodies.
The arrest affidavit suggests the livestream was responsible for family and friends of victims contacting Boulder 9-1-1 dispatchers in attempts to confirm their loved one's deaths.
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At the six-minute mark of the livestream, a Boulder officer orders Schiller to leave the scene. The affidavit describes the officer as concerned for Schiller's safety. Schiller responds, "Worry about the f***ing problem, I'm not your problem."
Schiller was physically escorted from the area 96 minutes after the livestream began, per the affidavit.
"I think one of the arguments they were trying to make is that my mere presence at the scene was a distraction, and therefore an obstruction — but they couldn't prove I physically obstructed them in any way," Schiller told a Westword reporter after the jury's verdict. "They were trying to broaden the definition of obstruction to include distraction, and the jury didn't agree with that."
Schiller told Westword he was at the store that day to meet a friend. That friend, Denny Strong, was among the casualties.
"I was really emotional at the time, and was anticipating that (Stong) would come out," Schiller told the Boulder Daily Camera a year after the shooting. "The initial few minutes or even the first hour, I was staying close by hoping that he would come out and I would be reunited with him. I started getting distraught.
"I do admit that my reaction wasn't necessarily appropriate, I probably could have handled things better. But part of what I feel that the officers there were thinking is that they thought I was there trying to cover a story, when I was part of the story. ... I feel like I was just out there exercising my First Amendment right."
The jury's verdict comes six days after a judge determined the gunman, 23-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, was still mentally incompetent to stand trial.
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