The 17th Judicial District Attorney's Office announced Thursday the officers involved in the 2022 shooting of a murder suspect will not be charged.
On Aug. 5, three Adams County Sheriff's Office deputies — Lance Kestel, Isiah Acosta and Robert Bacigalupo — shot at and killed Derrick Aranda, a suspect who failed to appear in court for a pending criminal charge of attempted first-degree murder, according to a news release.
Investigators determined Kestel, Acosta and Bacigalupo were legally justified shooting under applicable Colorado law.
On July 14, Aranda failed to appear in Denver County District Court for a pending criminal charge of attempted first-degree murder, according to the release. He was suspected of violating his bond conditions by removing his ankle monitor.
The news release describes the shooting going down like this: On Aug. 5, law enforcement officers traced Aranda to his girlfriend's apartment at 301 Malley Dr. in Northglenn using phone pings.
Adams County Sheriff's Office deputies created a perimeter around the apartment in unmarked vehicles and saw Aranda's girlfriend leave the apartment and get into a ride-share on the rear driver's side while Aranda stood on the apartment balcony.
Aranda then walked down the stairs toward the ride-share, where deputies approached him, identified themselves and ordered him to the ground. He ignored the commands and ran toward the rideshare, getting into the car on the rear passenger side.
The deputies surrounded the vehicle, where they saw Aranda "hurriedly" move into the car's front seat holding a black semi-automatic handgun, investigators found.
The deputies fired at Aranda, who died from gunshot wounds.
Since the deputies fired at Aranda in response to the threat he presented to them, and civilians were inside the vehicle, and since Aranda refused to comply with "reasonable commands to drop his weapon," the District Attorney's Office determined the deputies were justified in the use of deadly physical force, according to the release.
