Posted on 08/02/2018 1:25:31 PM PDT by beaversmom
DENVER – The stepson of the man shot and killed early Monday morning by Aurora police says there were just seconds between when his stepfather shot the man who’d broken into their home and assaulted his son and when police shot his stepfather dead.
Chad Hayashi spoke to ABC News on Wednesday about the police shooting that left his stepfather, Richard “Gary” Black, Jr., dead in an incident that has stirred homeowners and gun owners alike.
“It’s just heartbreaking. My dad was a hero,” Hayashi said in the exclusive interview. “My son wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him. I don’t think any of us would be here.”
Though police and the family’s attorney have already discussed some of what allegedly happened inside the Montview Blvd. home early Monday morning, Hayashi’s recounting is the most-detailed first-person account of the incident so far.
Awoken to an intruder and a struggle Hayashi says he was asleep early that morning when he was awoken by a woman standing in his bedroom doorway.
“And she starts saying to me, ‘My son is on drugs and he has your baby,’” Hayashi said.
He’d never seen the woman before. And as he looked over her shoulder, he says he saw another man in the house and the bathroom lights on.
“I immediately just shot into the bathroom to find this naked guy soaking wet … choking my son, biting his left ear,” Hayashi said.
He said he pressed his thumb against the man’s throat to get him to release his jaw from the boy’s ear, then had to jam his thumb “up to the first knuckle” into the man’s eye socket.
“When he didn’t squeal in pain or anything, I got even more worried,” Hayashi said.
But the man, who has been identified by the coroner's office as 26-year-old Dajon Harper, let the boy go and Hayashi says he was able to flip the man out of the bathtub.
Black was there with him in the bathroom, apparently having woken up and confronted the intruder just before Hayashi awoke. The two struggled with the intruder before Black, whom Hayashi says has a concealed carry permit, used a smaller carry weapon to shoot the intruder twice in the torso, according to Hayashi.
What happened next will forever change the life of Hayashi, who had been close to him for so long he called him “Dad.”
“My dad exited the bathroom, went around the corner, and I immediately heard multiple shots, which I thought was my dad engaging these other people in the house,” Hayashi said. “There was a pause, and then I hear people start screaming, ‘Police!’ and I hear people enter the house. And my son starts screaming, ‘I’m here with my dad. This crazy guy tried to attack me.’”
Hayashi says he handed his son to an officer but was then forced out of his home.
“And as I turned the corner, my dad is face down … and he’s handcuffed. And I reached down and – I don’t remember if I touched his shoulder or his face – but he looked at me and I got pushed off by an officer out the door,” Hayashi said.
As he was outside trying to get a blanket for his son while police were taking him to a squad car, Hayashi says he saw the same woman who had woken him up minutes earlier standing across the street screaming, “You shot my baby!”
Hayashi and his mother were taken to a police station, where they had to wait for hours before being told that Black was dead, he said. But he says he already knew.
“I knew when I touched him he was gone or almost gone,” Hayashi said. “I was sitting in a police car outside and never saw EMS come back out of the house, so I already knew my dad was dead.”
“I want answers. I want the truth.” Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz issued a new video statement on Wednesday about the shooting and subsequent fallout in which he said the department has wanted to keep the integrity of the investigation intact while getting people as much information as can be released. But he also said that some information that has come out so far about the incident has been wrong.
“Even with that, we remain incredibly frustrated that we are not able to get that information out to you in a more timely manner,” Metz said. “And obviously, much of that information, particularly as it pertains to this situation, has been inaccurate.”
Metz didn’t point out which information was inaccurate, however. Aurora police intend to hold a press conference Thursday to discuss the incident further.
But Black’s family’s attorney, Siddhartha Rathod, said Tuesday that police shot Black from outside of the home – something Hayashi hinted at in Wednesday’s interview as well, along with other facets to the story he says don’t completely add up, including the “chaotic” scene described by Metz in a police news release from Monday afternoon.
“I was told that he was told to drop the weapon and he didn’t. … I was told that by the commander or the assistant chief,” Hayashi said. “They heard gunfire but they shot the first thing they saw moving, in my opinion, although all the officers’ spent cartridges were outside of the house. And judging by the line of fire, had they missed him, they could have shot me or my son through the wall.”
Hayashi said he wants Aurora police to release body camera footage from every officer at the scene that day. And after learning that the officer had been involved in a shooting in late June, Hayashi said he doesn’t think the officer who shot his stepfather should have been there that night in the first place.
“I want to see them all – not just the shooting officers’ [body cameras],” he said. “I want answers. I want the truth. I want accountability.”
He says that Aurora police should have known who lived at the house: he says his mother has made about 50 quilts for the department and that officers used to get called there all the time years ago because a prowler was after his sisters.
“It happened for years, to the point where officers used to mock my mother as they were standing in the living room and my mom’s pointing – he’s walking down the driveway,” Hayashi said.
His mother is “a wreck,” according to Hayashi. Black’s four grandchildren were “his world.”
“It’s just disgust and shame. Sunday morning, had you asked my son what he thought about police officers, he would have told you they are the baddest dudes ever,” Hayashi said, noting that the boy had been at a police camp a week earlier. “Now all he can think about is police shot his grandfather. And he saw his grandfather handcuffed and he can’t understand why they wouldn’t help him. He’s just traumatized.”
Hayashi says his view of police has changed too, despite having family members who were officers and Black being a Vietnam veteran with a Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
“I’ve always respected police … I know what they do and what they have to go through,” Hayashi said. “I’m a little less in favor of them at the moment. I want my dad, you know.”
Despite the tenuous current relationship with police, Hayashi says he wants everyone to know his stepfather was a hero.
“He lived a hero; he died a hero. I’d be dead, my son would be dead. My mom, my daughter – we’d all be dead if it wasn’t for him.”
This whole story is absolutely bizarre. The mother of the intruder came, too?
Very bizarre chain of events.
Police are held to a ‘higher standard’? Really?
Tell me what happened to the cop in Wichita who reflexively shot an unarmed man at a ‘Swatting’ call earlier this year?
Nothing. That’s what happened to the bastard.
A 100% innocent man gets killed from long range (meaning the usual BS of ‘I was in fear for my life’ did not apply) and nothing happens to the killer who pulled the trigger.
Where’s the higher standard here? Where’s the justice for the dead man?
More and more I’m of a mind that our communities would be safer with armed citizens and far smaller police departments.
No more road pirates stopping people on the road to search them and steal their cash and/or vehicles. No more roid-raging, shaved-head angry thugs terrorizing people for imaginary and make-believe ‘crimes’ and no more jackbooted thugs dispensing street justice as if they were Judge Dredd.
Best of all, there’d be no more cops to protect the criminals from decent people.
PS: I just wanted to add about the Black family, it said in one of the news’ reports that Mrs. Black made some kind of blankets to give to the Aurora Police to help out for victim’s families. Not sure of all the details, but it was said in the video of the story news report that I posted. Now the poor woman is a victim.
Gun! Gun! Gun! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Never invite the man into you life.
AND KNEW “HER BABY” WAS ON DRUGS AND HAD THE KID IN THE BATHROOM!!!
Someone needs to shoot her stupid breeding ass too.
It was 50 quilts!!!
Wow. Wonderful woman.
I propose a statue for Mr. Black. He's a hero. He did what our justice system failed to do. He was trying to protect his family, but obviously he did a service for the community. And the same justice system that won't protect us from criminals, turned around and executed him.
Yep, he is a hero.
Maybe a couple of statutes too. Like one that requires immediate release of all police bodycam videos when there’s an “officer-involved shooting.”
“”That is an absolute nightmare scenario.””
An absolute nightmare of an article to make sense of. A son, a stepdad, a father, a grandfather, a woman, a grandson - who on earth is who? What were a stepdad and a dad doing in the same house? I can’t make sense of any of it.
He will probably be quietly fired and will move to another city, get hired there, and participate in another “officer involved shooting.” This guy likes to shoot.
OK, I see the interchange of names - the man awoken and that of the stepdad who heard the commotion...still don’t know the age of the son...or what the stepdad was doing on the ground handcuffed at one point and shot dead the next. How many people were living in that house? Stepdad/mother/son/4 grandchildren - where is the mother of the son who was captive of the intruder in the bathroom?
Oh - heck, who cares?? I’m just going to move on to the next article that won’t make any more sense than this one.
That, and ballistic reports.
I would like to reward you for ‘wrong think’.
Bravo !!!
Boy, that's some bullshit right there.
I call it like I see it. And I’ve seen a lot.
And thank you.
That's why they are called "law enforcement," not "protectors of law-abiding citizens."
Damn, that is right on.
Kinda hard not to dislike cops lately, cops today are just roided meatheads
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