Two Lakewood police officers who fired at a gunman on a murderous rampage that spanned from Denver to the Belmar shopping center have been cleared of using deadly physical force in an incident that left five victims and the killer dead.

First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King said that her Critical Incident Response Team made its decision after it interviewed witnesses, pored over 2,100 photographs, read 900 pages of reports and investigated ballistic forensics in the Dec 27, 2021, incident.

Lakewood officers Brianna Hagan and Ashley Ferris encountered Lyndon McLeod separately as he made his way through the outdoor mall first in his van and eventually on foot where, armed and wearing a fake police insignia on his chest, he met Ferris at West Alaska and South Vance at around 6:12 pm.

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“He walked up to me wearing a police vest and loading magazines,” said Ferris. “I didn’t know who he was. I asked him if he was private security. You have a gut feeling and I knew this was the guy,” Ferris told The Denver Gazette in an interview earlier this year.

Ferris, a four-year police veteran, had driven to the perimeter that night aware that a man fitting McLeod’s description had killed several people in Denver and Lakewood and was on the run. 

When the shooter approached her, she asked him not to hurt any more people. He responded, “I’ll show you what I’ll do,” and shot her in the torso. As Ferris was falling, she returned fire and then shot seven more rounds, according to the CIRT’s decision letter. When McLeod was on the ground, the letter described a scene where Ferris thought the shooter was still moving and fired five more founds.

He died on the street, ending a horrible night during which he terrorized two communities. The rampage involved eight stops from Denver to Lakewood in just over an hour, including a shootout with Denver police, a killing at a Cheesman Park high rise, three murders at two tattoo parlors, a killing at a hotel and even an impromptu drink at a bar. 

The CIRT also found that Hagan was justified in firing at the gunman just minutes earlier when he parked his van in the parking lot of a Wells Fargo bank at 310 Teller. Hagan had also been notified that he might be on the way to her location. When she spotted him, he got out of the van, according to the CIRT letter, and fired at her with a semi-automatic rifle. But he missed and dropped the weapon. Hagan then returned fire twice. The decision letter said the Wells Fargo shootout lasted only seven seconds.

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Eight shell casings from McLeod’s rifle were found at the Wells Fargo location. The CIRT determined that at the West Alaska and South Vance location, Ferris fired 23 times and the gunman fired nine rounds from a handgun. 

“Because the Agents had objectively reasonable grounds to believe, and did believe, that they were in imminent danger of being killed or suffering serious bodily injury, shooting at Mr. McLeod was legally justified,” King wrote in her decision letter. 

The killer’s autopsy report indicated that he suffered gunshot wounds to his chest, right thigh and left foot. The cause of death was a gunshot wound to his chest, the report says. 

Ferris was honored by Lakewood police at an awards ceremony for her bravery with a Purple Heart and Medal of Honor in May. After a stint in the hospital, she was able to return to patrol this summer. Lakewood police had no comment on the CIRT decision.