District Attorney Michael Dougherty has decided not to file criminal charges against the two City of Boulder officers who fatally shot Jeanette Alatorre on Dec. 17, 2023. The 51-year-old was confronted by officers after residents reported she had pointed what appeared to be a handgun at people driving near the North Boulder Recreation Center.
The two officers, Nathan Schultz and Jarrett Mastriona, were “legally justified” in shooting Alatorre due to an “imminent risk of death or great bodily injury” to officers and bystanders, Dougherty stated in a March 5 decision letter on the incident.
Alatorre had been pointing a Beretta APX .177 caliber air pistol, designed to look like a more powerful 9-millimeter handgun, at officers and bystanders, according to the letter. She sustained eight rifle shot wounds and died on the scene near the intersection of Broadway and Hawthorne Avenue.
“The people who encountered Ms. Alatorre that day believed she had a real gun, while using it to threaten civilians and police officers,” Dougherty said in a news release on Thursday. “It is certainly a tragic incident due to the loss of life. It was reasonable, though, for the officers to believe Ms. Alatorre posed a threat to the lives of others. Under the law, the police officers did not commit a crime that can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The incident began around 4:10 p.m. on Dec. 17, 2023, when officers responded to a call reporting that Alatorre had pointed what seemed to be a handgun at a man driving near the North Boulder Recreation Center. Earlier that day, officers had escorted her “without incident” out of the recreation center after she locked herself in a bathroom.
When officers arrived on the scene following the menacing call, the letter stated that Alatorre ignored officer commands and walked away from them. Officers fired at least 10 bean bag rounds at her. The bags, which are intended to be less lethal than conventional bullets, did not appear to affect her, the letter stated.
During the encounter, Alatorre pointed the air pistol at officers, approached a driver who had passed through the law enforcement roadblock, and walked through alleyways in the residential neighborhood. The letter stated that officers abstained from firing shots, partially because of the risk to bystanders.
Then, around 4:26 p.m., she pointed the gun in the direction of Officer Schultz. He fired nine rifle rounds, the letter said. Officer Mastriona then saw her torso raise “in a manner as if she would sit up and begin firing at officers.” Mastriona fired three rounds.
Officers performed CPR and the paramedics arrived at 4:31, the letter stated. Alatorre was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Boulder County Investigation Team, a group of law enforcement officials from other jurisdictions that investigates use-of-force incidents, investigated the shooting. The investigation included interviews with officers and witnesses who had observed the encounter or interacted with Alatorre, as well as body and dash camera footage.
District Attorney Dougherty reviewed the investigation to help reach his decision not to file charges. The investigation and review by the district attorney does not assess whether the City of Boulder police officers followed the city’s policies and procedures.
Following her death, Alatorre’s blood tested positive for methamphetamine, the letter stated. Substance use is a common factor in police shootings in Colorado. Police also found methamphetamine in the blood of a 36-year-old man who officers shot and killed in May 2023 after responding to a domestic violence call. The man was in possession of a handgun. The district attorney declined to file charges in that case.
The Dec. 17, 2023 shooting was the sixth fatal shooting by City of Boulder police officers since 2013, according to media reports and state records. None of the officers involved have been criminally charged, according to records from the District Attorney’s Office.
Separately, on Dec. 24, 2023, Efren Inda, 50, was killed after he was confronted by officers with the Colorado State Patrol and the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office near U.S. 36 near the McCaslin Boulevard exit. The investigation by the Boulder County Investigation Team is not yet complete, according to the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office.
The Christmas Eve shooting brought the total number of fatal police shootings in Boulder County in 2023 to three, the most in one year since 2016.
Dougherty is planning to hold a virtual townhall on the Dec. 17 shooting at 3:00 p.m. on March 14, 2024. More information can be found on the District Attorney Officer’s website.
Sounded like suicide by cop from the beginning.
If someone threatens to shoot you and you can’t disable them, what are you to do? Conduct an analysis if the gun is real?
God bless our police! 👮♂️👮♀️
She wasn’t bothering anyone when they went into that restroom she was in, she paid to be at the premises they wanted her out of. Her civil rights were violated, She was discriminated against .. they shot at her 12 times 8 of them hit her. She was only 5”2 & weighed 130 lbs a k9 could’ve easily taken her down. When we asked the Boulder Police Department why a canine wasn’t at the scene they responded with “we only have an old shaggy bomb dog “ I find it hard to believe that they had one canine and all of Boulder County ..
My mother did not deserve to get murdered that way only because she did not fit the description of the type individuals they want at their facility. There is so much missing footage we have asked for but have yet to be received. A lot of unanswered questions, we haven’t seen any footage that showed signs of aggression or her directly pointing a gun at anybody. There has been mass shooters, child rapists/ murders that get sent to prison and walk Scott free, why the overkill when it comes to a fragile lady? We have asked for incident reports written reports of the witnesses police dispatch audio recordings and none of it has been provided at this point the story could’ve been fabricated because if I may add Boulder Police Department never notified my family and myself of my mother’s murder we found out through a letter in the mail that she had been murdered.. how is that OK??
A man reported her in the Rec. center because he was scared. NOT for the fact he had seen a gun. THIS IS THE CAUSE OF HER DEATH. The Rec. center tried to protect her from any charges from the police after they were called and escorted her from the premises. She had been agitated merely by their presence, and an hour later she pointed a gun at someone in a car outside the rec. center. After that it was all over.
The point is NOT that the DA had to prove she was validly killed. It is what precipitated this that is at question. No town hall that doesn’t cover the very origin of the report does anything to convince me of the culpability of the very protecting system the taxpayers support.
The man who reported he was scared was not properly interviewed BEFORE the rec. center called the police. Maybe the problem was the guy was just scared for no known reason or had a mental issue of his own, and she just happened to be present.
Can BRL do further investigation along these lines, breaking the sound barrier?