Aurora police kill unarmed Black man says family

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We wish we could provide you happier news the day following another glorious Juneteenth celebration but unfortunately, violence against Black bodies doesn’t take days off.

Aurora, Colorado, the place of multiple tragedies over the past few years, was again marred by police violence back in May when, according to KDVR, Denver Police asked for assistance from the Aurora P.D. in arresting 37-year-old Kilyn Lewis.

Lewis was allegedly being accused of attempted homicide. A lawyer for the family says that Lewis was pulling his cell phone out of his pocket when police confronted him at a local apartment complex.

That lawyer, Edward C. Hopkins Jr., says that Lewis was unarmed and never presented a threat to the officers on the scene saying, “He was trying to process what was going on reaching into his back pocket. Pulling his phone up to his ear was the movement that got him killed.”

Lewis’ brother Kiawa Lewis also spoke out publicly stating that Kilyn did not possess a weapon of any kind or make himself a danger to officers via CPR:

“My brother was never armed. He never put up a fight. He never threatened to kill or do anything like that. And yeah, he was actually murdered at the end of the day,” Kiawa Lewis said.

The body camera footage from the shooting was released today by the Aurora Police Department with commentary by interim police chief Heather R. Morris.

We will have more details about this case as the investigation develops.