Body camera video: Officers asked suspect to drop knife more than 40 times

Editor's note: Scroll to the bottom of this story to watch the body camera footage.

Police asked Jeremy Holmes to drop the hunting knife he was holding more than 40 times before fatally shooting the 19-year-old man July 1 near the Colorado State University campus in Fort Collins, body camera footage released Tuesday shows.

Holmes can be heard in the video telling police he won't drop the knife, and that he wants to die.

At the culmination of the confrontation, Colorado State University police Cpl. Phil Morris yelled out to Fort Collins Police Services officer Erin Mast that he was going to try to use his Taser to subdue Holmes after making multiple unsuccessful orders for Holmes to drop the knife. In the less than two seconds during which Morris reaches for his Taser, Holmes can be seen charging toward Morris. Morris and Mast then fire multiple shots from their service weapons until Holmes falls to the ground at Morris' feet.

Fort Collins Police Services and Colorado State University Police Department released body-worn camera footage and 911 audio from two different police shootings Tuesday. 

The Coloradoan is sharing edited versions of the videos from both shootings on Coloradoan.com because they provide the most clear view to date of the actions taken by suspects and responding officers involved in each incident.

Holmes' fatal shooting marks the first time CSU police has released body-worn camera footage from a shooting involving one of its officers. The department completed a pilot phase of a program testing the use of body-worn cameras last summer. The cameras had only been worn by officers for about two months prior to the shooting.

Two officers shot Holmes, one from Fort Collins Police Services and one from CSU, and the body camera footage from both officers was released. The officers fired a total of six shots.

At a press conference Tuesday, Colorado State University Police Department Chief Scott Harris commended both officers' actions, which he called "exemplary."

He said Morris' actions included "trying to do whatever he could to de-escalate and to get the gentleman, Mr. Holmes, to drop that knife" alone until officer Mast arrived and provided cover.

Fort Collins Police Interim Chief Terry Jones said the outcome of the shooting is unfortunate but that officers did everything they could. He called Morris' actions of continuously backing up and trying to de-escalate "impressive." 

The rule for law enforcement, Jones said, is that an armed suspect within 21 feet is considered lethal, "but if you notice in Officer Mast's video just how close Mr. Holmes got to (Morris), it was surprising the threat stopped as fast as it did."

On the evening of July 1, Holmes' mother, Susan Holmes, can be heard in the 911 audio calling police to say Jeremy Holmes was walking from Drake Road and College Avenue to his brother and sister-in-law's home at Aggie Village Apartments. She said he was carrying a "big knife" and wanted to kill his brother and sister-in-law, which prompted a response from CSU police.

"He's got mental health issues that have been growing for the last few months just dramatically. ... There's no reason for him to be doing this," Susan Holmes said on the call.

Susan Holmes said her son participated in a mental health evaluation with police voluntarily a couple of weeks before the call, and "I've been trying to help him, but there's something wrong with him."

Jeremy Holmes was carrying an 11.25-inch bayonet knife that he bought at a pawn shop four days earlier, according to District Attorney Cliff Riedel's letter clearing the officers of wrongdoing related to the shooting.

Susan Holmes said on the call that that her son told her he planned to charge at police "so that he'll die today."

"He just said you're going to lose either two sons today or one," she told an emergency dispatcher. "I'm just so horrified. I'm just so horrified."

When officer Morris responded to Aggie Village Apartments and then saw Jeremy Holmes walking west on Prospect Road about 25 minutes later, Morris parked and exited his vehicle near Holmes, who brandished the knife, according to Riedel's letter.

Video and audio captured from Morris's camera shows him repeatedly telling Holmes to drop the knife.

"I don't want to hurt you. Please drop the knife," Morris can be heard saying.

The officer also told Holmes that he had "tons of options," as Holmes told Morris that his life was over.

"This is the end, so I want you to kill me," Holmes said.

Holmes verbally refused to drop the knife several times and can be heard saying he would only drop it if he received immunity.

The time between Morris exiting his vehicle to confront Holmes and the shooting was just over a minute and a half.

In the video released Tuesday, Morris can be seen backing away from Holmes, and in the last 14 seconds of the video released by CSU, another officer can be heard yelling to Holmes to drop the weapon.

Mast passed Morris and Holmes while responding to an unrelated burglary call and turned around and exited her patrol car to assist Morris, who was backing away from Holmes with his handgun drawn.

Mast fired two shots and Morris fired four, Riedel's report states. Holmes, who Riedel said was about 11 feet from Morris when he began charging, fell to the ground at Morris' feet after being shot.

Holmes was transported to Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, where he was pronounced dead.

Susan Holmes has been vocal about her criticisms of the shooting of her son, speaking before the Fort Collins City Council and asking for an unedited copy of the police body camera footage, according to a city memo. The city agreed to show her the unedited footage but only release edited footage that obscures' Jeremy Holmes' face and injuries.

In an open letter sent Tuesday to city leaders and local news organizations, Susan Holmes wrote: " ... the DA’s summary of facts excludes pertinent details that would indicate there was significant error on the part of the police including the DA’s unacknowledged use of excessive force. My son, Jeremy Holmes was shot six times. Provision of the missing facts along with the deconstruction of Officer Morris’s actions, will reveal that Jeremy’s death was unnecessary and preventable."

Susan Holmes said her son was suffering from a "severe drug reaction to the THC in cannabis," which led to his suicidal state.

"My son was never a criminal until the DA criminalized him after he was killed by police," she said.

At the press conference held Tuesday, Harris said both officers did everything they could to resolve the situation differently, but "Mr. Holmes made that choice to charge the officer and the officers had to protect themselves."

Jones added that the shooting is an "exceptionally difficult" situation for Susan Holmes to deal with and process, and both chiefs met with her before releasing the information.

"I feel very bad for the whole ordeal," Jones said. "Unfortunately, her son died that evening, and it was his actions that resulted in the actions taken by law enforcement."

Police shootings in Larimer County

Since late 2011, the Larimer County District Attorney's Office has issued opinions on 16 police shootings. There were three officer-involved shootings in both 2015 and 2016. 

Year to date, there have been five in 2017 in Larimer County:  

• Fort Collins Police Services Officer Matt Brede was cleared of wrongdoing Feb. 7 in the nonfatal shooting of Austin Snodgrass on Jan. 21. Snodgrass was sentenced to Community Corrections in September.
• Loveland police officers Stephen Marchio, Sean McDonald, Geoff Reeves and Matthew Sychla were cleared July 6 of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of Stephen Rich on June 8.
• Larimer County Sheriff's Office Deputy Derek Signorelli was cleared of wrongdoing July 27 in the fatal shooting of vehicle theft suspect Chet Knuppel on June 30 on the outskirts of southeast Fort Collins. 
• Fort Collins Police Services Officer Erin Mast and Colorado State University Police Department Cpl. Philip Morris were cleared July 18 of wrongdoing after they fatally shot suspect Jeremy Holmes on July 1. 
• Fort Collins police Sgt. Justin Gallimore was cleared of wrongdoing after fatally shooting George Randall Newman, who reportedly opened the door wielding a firearm at the America's Best Value Inn in North Fort Collins on Oct. 1. Newman was later identified as the man who police believe fatally stabbed Sherri Allman in her Fort Collins home days earlier.

Reporter Saja Hindi covers public safety and local politics. You can follow her on Twitter @BySajaHindi or email her at shindi@coloradoan.com.