A police officer in a Denver suburb will not face criminal charges for mistakenly shooting and killing a “good Samaritan” who had stopped an active shooter on a downtown plaza, prosecutors announced Monday.
The decision by First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King came nearly five months after Arvada police officer Kraig Brownlow killed 40-year-old Johnny Hurley.
Hurley had just fatally shot Ronald Troyke, who a minute earlier had ambushed and killed Arvada police Officer Gordon Beesley and fired several rounds in the busy dining and shopping district.
“The officer here had objectively reasonable grounds to believe, and did believe, he and others were in imminent danger of being killed that day,” King said. “Thus, the officer’s decision to shoot John Hurley was legally justified despite his heroic actions that day.”
A letter issued Monday by King explaining her decision offered the first complete timeline of the shootings on June 21, 2021.
The entire incident — from the gunman killing Beesley to Brownlow killing Hurley — lasted two minutes and seven seconds.
• Surveillance video released by the Arvada Police Department showed Troyke run after Beesley and shoot him with a shotgun at 1:35 p.m. in the downtown area. Troyke then returned to his truck and swapped the shotgun for a rifle before walking toward the main square.
• From a police station on the square, three officers, including Brownlow, observed Troyke, who was dressed in black, walk out of the parking lot carrying a rifle. They did not engage him because they felt they wouldn’t be adequately protected if he started shooting at them. Troyke walked out of their view, and then Brownlow heard a volley of gunfire.
• Those gunshots, at 1:36, were from Hurley shooting and killing Troyke. Hurley had come out of the Arvada Army Navy Surplus store where he had been shopping and fired his legally carried handgun.
• Hurley, wearing a red shirt, then stepped into Brownlow’s view holding Troyke’s rifle and his own handgun. At 1:37 p.m., Brownlow fired three rounds, striking Hurley. The officer did not call out any warning or command before firing.
• A paramedic with the Jefferson County SWAT team started rendering aid to Hurley at 1:44 p.m.
Doctors at a nearby hospital declared Hurley dead shortly after he arrived. He died of a single gunshot to the pelvis, according to his autopsy. The bullet entered his buttock from behind and did not exit his body.
“Though the acts of John Hurley were nothing short of heroic, the facts must be viewed as they appeared to Officer Brownlow at the time …,” King wrote in her letter. “Based upon information known to Brownlow, the presence of a mass shooter, and the potential for a second mass shooter in a red shirt carrying a rifle and a handgun turned toward a hub of community activity, warranted deadly force and no lesser degree of force would eliminate the potential threat.”
King added that Hurley stopped further bloodshed and will be remembered for his selflessness.
Hurley’s mother, Kathleen Boleyn, issued a statement saying that she “imagine(s) that many people are angry and that is understandable. I would ask that instead of acting out on your anger, that you use that energy to be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Brownlow remained on paid administrative leave Monday, and Arvada police spokesman Dave Snelling said it’s up to the officer to decide whether to come back to his previous role.
Arvada Mayor Marc Williams on Monday said he hoped King’s decision to clear Brownlow of criminal wrongdoing would bring some closure to those affected by the shootings on June 21.
“I do view Johnny Hurley as a hero that day,” he said. “We’re still saddened by the loss of Gordon Beesley, and we’re also thinking of the officer [Brownlow]. He’s gotta live with this, and that’s tough.”
Denver Post reporter Sam Tabachnik contributed to this report.
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