Shortly before 8 a.m. on June
28, police in Broomfield, Colorado, shot and killed Kyle Miller
after he brandished a gun at them. Miller was mentally ill. The gun
was fake. Miller’s younger brother told the police dispatcher both
of these facts. For some unknown reason, reports the Denver
Post, Broomfield
police shot Miller anyway: 

A 911 call recorded just before Kyle Miller was shot to death by
Broomfield police officers last week shows that his family warned
dispatchers the 21-year-old was armed with an Airsoft pellet gun —
not a real handgun.

In response, a dispatcher assured the victim’s brother,
“Officers are trained in this kind of thing. They’re not going to
go around shooting people.”

Broomfield police received a 911 call around 7:20 a.m. June 28
about a “mentally distraught” man in the Aspen Creek subdivision.
While officers were en route, they encountered Miller near the
intersection of Aspen Street and Durango Avenue. Miller pointed the
pellet gun at police and was shot by officers.

The 911 tape shows that Miller’s younger brother, Alex Miller,
told police about the Airsoft gun in an attempt to avoid a
dangerous confrontation.

“My brother is having a breakdown,” Alex Miller told the
dispatcher, adding that he woke up to his mother’s screams because
Kyle Miller was trying to cut himself with a pocket knife. Screams
can be heard in the background throughout the 911 call.

On the recording, Alex Miller repeatedly said his brother was
carrying an Airsoft gun.

“Can you tell them he has a gun in his hands? Is there any way
you can let them know he’s got the gun in his hands?” Alex Miller
said. “It’s not real.”

“I know,” the dispatcher replied. “The officers are trained in
this kind of thing. They’re not going to go around shooting
people.”

According to Miller’s mother, her son had schizophrenia, and was
upset because he had recently been let go from his job. The
shooting is under investigation by an “independent” review board
affilated with the Broomfield Police Department. In the meantime,
the officers involved (BPD won’t say how many, or how many shots
they fired) are on paid administrative leave.