Aurora police chief wishes Colorado man who was shot by officers "would've made different decision"

Police are releasing more information about a deadly shooting that happened last week in Aurora. Officers responded to an emergency call about a fight outside an apartment complex last Thursday afternoon, and officers ended up shooting a man they say was in that fight and was armed with what appeared to be an assault-style rife. He died that same afternoon.

A day after the shooting, a woman who says she was the suspect's girlfriend identified him as 38-year-old Kory Dillard. Aurora police have not confirmed his identity, but on Monday Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain spoke to reporters again about the tragic situation.

He says the suspect was attempting to steal another man's car and the two began fighting.

"It actually got to the point to where they rolled around on the ground for a period of time -- almost 5 minutes. ... It escalated to where our suspect was trying to get the keys to our victim's car. It escalated even further at which point our suspect took a rock and hit our victim in the head," Chamberlain said.

The victim didn't suffer serious injuries.

The chief says the suspect then got out a replica of a tactical air rifle from his vehicle which "looks exactly the same as an authentic AR-15."

"He was waiving it and brandishing it in a very threatening manner," Chamberlain said.

He says the suspect threatened to kill a woman who was pushing a cart. After officers arrived they immediately attempted to get the suspect to put the weapon down. The officers said "drop the weapon, drop the weapon," according to Chamberlain.

They shot the man when he then raised the air rifle and aimed it at the officers.

After being treated by emergency responders and taken to the hospital he died.

"What (the officers) saw when they arrived on scene based upon the initial investigation is ... an individual who refused to listen to verbal commands to drop the weapon. And I honestly wish he would've. I wish he would've made a different decision that day," Chamberlain said.

Chamberlain said there is body-worn camera video footage of the situation. That has not been released yet.

Dillard's girlfriend said last week she wishes a crisis response team would have been present because she knows her boyfriend, a veteran who was prone to PTSD, was having a crisis. On Monday the police chief said the policies that would have brought about such a response weren't met.

"It does not fall into this category," said the chief.

"That is not this incident. This incident is an incident that ... was a violent from the very beginning that Aurora PD became aware of it. It started out as a robbery and a fight. It escalated to where this individual armed himself with what appeared to be an AR weapon, walked up and down the street, completely putting the community at jeopardy, threatening another individual," he said.

Chamberlain says the investigation is still ongoing and the officers who fired rounds are on leave, which is standard procedure.