Aurora authorities on Thursday released the body camera footage of a man who was fatally shot by the police last month. 

The release was accompanied by a video statement from Chief Heather Morris, who provided narration for some of the videos from three body police cameras and, thus, showing three angles. 

Attorneys for the family of Kilyn Errin Lewis, 37, said he was working on a car stereo system on the morning of May 23 when he was surrounded by two unmarked police SUV’s.

He was shot once in the abdomen by an Aurora SWAT officer, the videos showed. 

The footage was released by Aurora police on Thursday morning. The incident from the time two SWAT teams advance from their vehicles to the single gunshot took less than 10 seconds, the videos showed. 

Officers from Denver and Aurora had been following Lewis for days in an attempt to arrest him in connection with a May 5 attempted homicide, which Morris said happened at East 48th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. 

“According to the warrant, Lewis shot a 63-year-old man multiple times who was walking in the area,” Morris said. “Thankfully, the victim survived.”

Lewis, who was dressed in a sleeveless T-shirt and loose-fitting jeans, was rummaging through the trunk of the vehicle and did not appear to see the two vehicles, which pulled up behind him, the videos showed. As the footage rolled, officers yell for him to “get on the ground,” and he starts to walk along the driver’s side of the car toward the front, the videos showed.  

At first, the videos showed, his hands are in plain view and they are empty. But when Lewis faces oncoming police, the videos showed, he did not appear to comply with the order. 

“I don’t have nothin’! I don’t have nothin’!” he can be heard saying.

Morris’ narration described Lewis putting his left hand into his pants’ pocket. He then took the cellphone out of his back pocket with his right hand. She noted that, as he reached for the cell phone, he had his right hand “behind his back out of view.” 

Lewis’ family and their attorneys held a press conference on Thursday morning after the video was released. 

“You raise your hand with a phone, as a Black man, that gets you killed in Aurora,” Edward Hopkins Jr., the family’s attorney and part of Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC, said.

Though SWAT team members attempted to save his life at the scene, Lewis died two days later at a nearby hospital.

Michael Dieck, a 12-year-veteran of the force and eight-year Aurora SWAT team member who shot Lewis, was put on administrative leave. The video showed him shooting Lewis as he reached for a black cellphone and started to raise his hands.

The attorneys argued that the SWAT officers saw Lewis’ back when they approached him at the scene, potentially ruling out the misconception that Lewis had a gun or holster on his backside. 

Hopkins Jr. noted that the full, unedited footage, has not been made available to the family or attorneys following their first viewing. 

“The Aurora Police Department owes the family an explanation,” Hopkins Jr. said. “I’m not talking about an explanation for why they killed Kilyn Lewis. We all know that was wrong… They owe us an explanation for why they didn’t arrest Officer Dieck on the spot.”

Aurora police said the shooting occurred before noon that day at the Edenbrook condominiums at 348 S. Ironton St. 

The incident is under internal investigation by the Aurora Police Department and the 18th Judicial District is investigating the shooting as part of the Critical Incident Response Team to determine if it was justified. 

“I watched videos and shows on television about police killings, especially Black men,” said Lewis’ wife, Anndrec Lewis.

“I used to think nothing like that would ever happen to somebody I love. I know better now,” she said. 

“You’re actions tarnish the badge and cast shadows over law enforcement worldwide. This is why a lot of us don’t trust you all,” Lewis’ older brother, Kiawa Lewis, said. “And when I say ‘us,’ I’m talking about citizens.” 

The family, along with their attorneys, said they are looking to take legal actions against the department. 

“Aurora has a history. It has a unique, deadly history. The things we tried in the past don’t seem to be working in Aurora,” Hopkins Jr. said, citing the shooting of 37-year-old Naeschylus Carter-Vinzant in 2015 and the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain at the hands of officers and paramedics in 2019.

The family of Carter-Vinzant received a $2.6 million settlement, then the largest settlement in the city’s history. McClain’s family received $15 million a few years later.

Lewis’ criminal record showed a history of violent crimes. He was arrested in 2004, and again in 2005, on felony charges of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, according to court records. He was sentenced to six years in the Department of Corrections and four years of intensive supervision. Lewis was arrested on burglary charges in 2015, pleaded guilty the next year and was sentenced to five years in prison. 

Court records also showed he was arrested on child abuse charges in 2005 and received a four-year prison sentence and three years of intense supervision probation. It’s unclear if that sentence was served concurrently with the robbery conviction. 

Despite his criminal background and the fact police were searching for him on an attempted murder warrant, the family’s attorneys argued that should not make a difference in the way the SWAT handled the situation.

“He stood presumed innocent. They observed him for two days and he was unarmed,” Siddhartha Rathod, attorney and partner at Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC, said. “What someone did 10 years ago doesn’t justify an officer shooting an unarmed man.”