Alexis Kenyon

About 70 demonstrators rallied at the Aurora City Council meeting last week to protest the police shooting of another unarmed Black man, 37-year-old Kilyn Lewis — who police shot and killed last month in Aurora. Lewis's death comes two years after Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser imposed a consent decree on the city of Aurora mandating the city fix "patterns of racially biased policing and excessive use of force in the Aurora Police Department."

The consent decree came in the aftermath of the 2019 murder of Elijah McClain, and a report showing Black people were more than twice as likely to be arrested in the city of Aurora than white people.

Despite the decree, in 2022 — only about five months later — Aurora's City Council fired Vanessa Wilson, the interim Chief of Police who had begun to reform the APD by creating DEI trainings and removing many of the so-called "bad apples" involved in Elijah McClain's death. In Wilson's place, the Council appointed a new interim chief who rehired the officers and ended many of Wilson's programs for reform.

Meanwhile, police violence in Aurora has continued. In 2023, out of the reported uses of force by Aurora PD, about 41 percent of those were against Black residents — that's despite Black residents only making up about 16 percent of the population.

Lewis was the second unarmed Black man Aurora Police officers killed since June of the previous year. The incident happened at around midday on May 23, 2024, a Tuesday. Footage shows Aurora PD confronting Lewis and Officer Michael Dieck shooting and killing Lewis within seconds of arrival.

Lewis, who had a 16-year-old son, can be heard shouting that he is unarmed. As he begins to fall to his knees with his hands in the air, Dieck fires. Dieck, who was placed on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation, reported that he thought the cellphone in Lewis' right hand was a weapon.

Community members, including longtime Aurora residents, social justice activists, and friends and family members of Kilyn Lewis, crowded into Aurora City Council chambers on Monday, June 24.

At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Mike Coffman announced that ralliers should be aware of the time because they only had one hour for public comment. Coffman, a Republican who was elected to Aurora City Council in 2019, created the council's one-hour public limit as Black Lives Matter protests began to spread across the country. With growing outrage over George Floyd's death, footage of the similarly brutal and ultimately fatal 2019 arrest of Elijah McClain began circulating nationwide. McClain, who was 23 years old and unarmed, was walking home from a convenience store when Aurora Police tackled him to the ground. Paramedics injected McClain with a lethal dose of ketamine. By 2021, protestors flooded Aurora City Council chambers demanding change.

K-Dot, who identified himself as Lewis' cousin, expressed his frustration with council members: "And you guys are just sitting there with blank stares on your face. I don't know if you guys have seen the same body-worn camera that I've seen. But that was absolute murder. My cousin died over a f***king cell phone. Literally. And then you smear his name to the public. You didn't even get that right."

Bruno Tapia, a longtime Aurora resident, told City Council: "And those demonstrators were brutalized by the Aurora Police Department. It wasn't until that violent vigil happened that the City Council did anything. So it is unbelievable that four years later, once again, the community has to gather here to demand justice for another unarmed black man murdered by the Aurora Police Department."

At the one-hour mark, about a half dozen speakers, including Kilyn's mom and sister, still had not gotten a chance to speak. As Coffman began to call the next agenda item, Council Member Alison Coombs asked him to reconsider the hour limit. Coffman responded: "Mayor opposes. They were here two weeks ago. They'll be able to come back and speak two weeks from now." Council Member Coombs countered: "They're here right now. They took the time to come here right now." Council Member Crystal Murillo added: "We didn't use to have a time limit on public invited to be heard. Just for context."

As council members tallied votes to extend the one-hour limit, Gina Simien, Kilyn Lewis's aunt, stood up from the crowd and shouted at the dais: "You want to go home but so did my nephew. Eight seconds it took to murder my nephew on his knees." Coffman didn't look up from his desk.

Simien continued: "And you want to stand here and talk about 'order this, order that'? I watched him go down in the ground. I watched him be put in a coffin. Do you understand this? This is not child's play. Eight seconds, it took to kill him. No children will celebrate Christmas or birthdays. Do you understand? This is what it's like. Do you understand? This is what outrage looks like. Do you get it? I'm pissed off."

The motion to extend the debate failed with four "yes" votes and seven "no" votes. The crowd of ralliers erupted, chanting Kilyn Lewis' name. They began to leave their seats and sat on the ground in front of the dais. Coffman called a meeting to recess and most of the Council members left the chambers. After about 10 minutes of chanting, the council returned. Coffman announced that he agreed to allow the remaining comments.

As Aurora City Council wrapped up the meeting, Councilwoman Hancock said: "If you're not able to articulate it in a way that is meaningful and ultimately supposed to be convincing to the people that you're talking to, then you might want to step back and maybe do some research or calm yourself so that you can speak."

Candice Bailey, a lead organizer of demonstrations following the 2019 murder of Elijah McClain and longtime social justice activist in Colorado, responded: "Well, first of all, let's be clear. When people say that City Council can't do anything, you're full of shit. You're full of shit. They can end the contract with the Aurora Police Department. That is all that needs to happen. And the leadership that is in this community right now is actually complicit. They are allowing this to happen knowingly. They are making the taxpayers pay the bill and they're acting like its nothing."

A few days after the meeting, Lewis' sister Tajh spoke about what the loss has meant for her family: "Cause you know, you try to go through your day as normal, but then you get sad when you think like, oh, let me call my brother and see what he's doing and you can't call him. Yeah. You know, so you try to get through your day. And that's what I want everybody to understand is that they did not treat him as if he was a, like a person. It seems like they hunted him down like an animal or something."

This story was originally published July 1, 2024 on KGNU Community Radio. All photos by Alexis Kenyon.