Update 1 p.m., March 11, 2024: Two Boulder police officers who fatally shot a 51-year-old woman carrying a replica gun in December were justified in using deadly force, according to a decision letter from the Boulder District Attorney’s Office.
Officers Nathan Schultz and Jarrett Mastriona reasonably believed that Jeanette Alatorre was armed and nearby officers and bystanders were in imminent danger when they shot her on Dec. 17, District Attorney Michael Dougherty wrote in a decision letter Tuesday.
Police had escorted Alatorre out of the North Boulder Recreation Center earlier that day because she was refusing to leave a bathroom, according to the letter.
Officers returned to the center just after 4 p.m. when a driver reported Alatorre had walked into the street, stood in front of their vehicle and pointed what appeared to be a gun at them.
Police followed her through the nearby neighborhood, commanding her to drop her weapon and get on the ground and using bean-bag rounds to try to detain her.
Alatorre pointed what appeared to be a gun at officers several times, according to the letter, after which she was shot eight times.
Alatorre was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police later determined the gun she was carrying was a BB gun designed to look like a Beretta handgun that was previously stolen from a Brighton home.
Original story: A woman carrying a replica gun was shot and killed by Boulder police Sunday afternoon after she allegedly pointed the replica at someone outside the North Boulder Recreation Center and then ran from police, officials said.
Boulder police Deputy Chief Ron Gosage announced the woman’s death at a news conference in front of Boulder police headquarters Monday afternoon, 18 hours after the department first posted on X that there had been a police shooting. That post did not specify whether anyone was wounded or killed by officers.
Emergency dispatchers received a 911 call at 4:10 p.m. from a driver who said he was in his car in the recreation center’s driveway exit at 3170 Broadway when a woman approached him and pointed a gun at him, Gosage said at the news conference.
Officers arrived at the scene two minutes later and located the woman at 4:14 p.m. She did not follow officer commands and headed north on Broadway on foot, Gosage said.
Police attempted to detain her through deescalation and less-lethal uses of force for approximately 15 minutes while they followed her down residential side streets, Gosage said.
The woman refused to stop or show her hands and pulled what appeared to be a gun out of her purse, the department said in a news release.
Two officers fired their guns at 4:26 p.m., Gosage said.
Police and Boulder Fire Rescue administered medical aid for nearly 40 minutes, including chest compressions and a tourniquet, before the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers recovered a replica of a Beretta pistol from the woman’s hand.
She will be identified by the Boulder County Coroner’s Office, Gosage said. No officers were injured during the encounter, and the two officers involved are on paid administrative leave, Gosage said.
“The use of deadly force is something that no officer wants to do,” Gosage said. “The taking of a life is the most serious action an officer can take. The incident is a tragedy and our thoughts are with the friends and family of the woman who died.”
Boulder County’s multi-agency critical incident team was immediately notified of the shooting and began investigating, District Attorney Michael Dougherty said at the news conference.
After the investigation is finished, the team will present the findings to the district attorney’s office to determine whether the officers were legally justified in using force or if criminal charges should be filed, Dougherty said.
“This is an absolute tragedy any time there’s a loss of life,” Dougherty said. “I can promise you that the investigation is going to be thorough, as it should be any time an officer uses deadly physical force.”
Dougherty encouraged anyone who witnessed the incident to reach out to investigators.
Police also are seeking information about a trespassing incident involving the same woman at the recreation center reported at 3:13 p.m. The woman refused to leave a bathroom and was escorted off the property by police, according to a news release from the department.
During the 18-hour gap between when the shooting was announced and when the woman’s death was announced, investigators were conducting interviews and determining how to provide the community with the most accurate information in the most timely way possible, spokesperson Dionne Waugh said.
The department regularly reviews best practices in public information, Waugh said.
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