The armed man whose actions prompted Denver police officers to shoot him and six bystanders in Lower Downtown during the summer of 2022 pleaded guilty to a low-level felony in Denver District Court on Friday.
Jordan Waddy, 23, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit possession of a weapon by a previous offender. As part of the plea agreement, an assault charge and three counts of illegally carrying a gun were dismissed. He faces between 15 months and three years in prison on the conviction and is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 30.
Waddy was holding a gun when three Denver police officers shot at him around 1:30 a.m. on July 17, 2022, near 20th and Larimer streets. One officer, Brandon Ramos, also wounded six bystanders in the shooting, sparking outrage across Denver.
The police shooting happened as bars were closing in the busy nightlife district, and the streets around Waddy were crowded with pedestrians. Officers confronted Waddy because they believed he was carrying a gun. When the officers approached, Waddy pulled a gun from his clothing and was holding it by the slide on top of the gun when the officers fired, body camera footage shows.
Three officers fired, shooting Waddy, but also injuring six bystanders. A grand jury later determined that only Ramos shot the bystanders, while the other two officers did not injure any bystanders in the shooting. Waddy and the wounded bystanders all survived.
Waddy pleaded guilty after Denver District Court Judge Nikea Bland ruled Friday that police officers were legally justified in stopping Waddy that night.
Ramos, who fired from a different angle than the other two officers, could see there was a large crowd of people behind Waddy and should not have fired, a grand jury investigation later found. The officer was indicted on 14 criminal charges; that case is pending.
The shooting was the highest-casualty police shooting in Colorado since at least 2010, when the state started collecting data. Denver police defended their actions in the days after the incident.
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