Girlfriend of man shot by Aurora Police Department says mental health training could've prevented the Colorado death
The girlfriend of a man shot by Aurora police says his death this week in Colorado was preventable. The victim's girlfriend, Anna Harris, identified him as 38-year-old Kory Dillard.
"He was a father and four-year combat veteran," Anna said. "Kory had hobbies. He flew drones, 3D printed and loved airsoft SpeedQB with friends. He wouldn't hurt a fly."
She last saw Kory on Thursday morning. Anna later returned home to a crime scene. Kory had been shot by police. He succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.
Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain says officers responded to a dispute near Anna and Kory's apartment. Reports say Kory was seen carrying an assault type of weapon.
"The officers approached the individual. They made several contacts with the individual verbally to have him drop his weapon," Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said. "At that point gunfire was exchanged by the officers towards the individual with the weapon and the individual fell to the ground."
APD on Friday was not able to confirm the type of weapon Kory held.
Anna says it was a battery-powered airsoft gun he purchased on Amazon.
"The weapon they're calling an 'assault-style' weapon is actually a toy," Anna clarified. "It's made of plastic, and anyone should have been able to see that it's not a real gun."
She's frustrated that trained officers weren't able to see the difference.
"The police should have identified that it was a toy. With all the money we put into police training, they should have known," she said.
When asked about the officers' response, Chamberlain noted their surroundings.
"When you think of a school across the street, when you think of another location, where it's a hospital, where children come to get services from across the nation. That's what they had to confront and deal with," said Chamberlain.
He says it was a troubling situation. But Anna says it was Kory who was in trouble.
She says his time in Afghanistan left him with deep emotional scars. She fears the police response triggered Kory.
"Kory suffered with PTSD really bad," Anna shared, recalling moments when his past would resurface unexpectedly. "He would be fine, and then something from his time in Afghanistan would bring him to a dark place."
Anna says that Kory had been struggling in the days leading up to the incident.
"He was crying about how the system is failing him as a veteran," she recounted. "Five days before, he was in tears, feeling like America didn't care about its veterans."
Anna feels his death could have been prevented with more training.
"If he had received the mental health help he needed, this would have never happened. The police should have brought in a mental health professional instead of escalating the situation," Anna said. "They didn't eliminate a threat to the community, they killed a struggling veteran."
APD says the police shooting is under investigation.
