Friday, June 10, 2005

Aurora, Colorado

From Denver’s TheDenverChannel.com of June 10, 2005
No Charges To Be Filed In Fatal Parking Lot Shooting

Grand Jury: Man Acted In Self Defense

A white restaurant owner who shot and killed a black man in a parking lot following a confrontation over a small dent caused by a car door acted in self defense, a grand jury that investigated the incident announced Thursday.

Glenn Eichstedt, 52, who is white, shot and killed Aaron P. Davis, 39, and shot Davis' wife, Benita Coleman-Davis, 37, twice in the chest during a confrontation in a shopping center parking lot Nov. 13. Both victims were black.

The Arapahoe County grand jury's announcement of no charges angered the city's black community.

"Everyone in the black community knows that if a black man shoots a white couple in a public parking lot in a fight over a dinged car door the black man goes to jail," said community activist Shareef Aleem.

Eichstedt was questioned on the scene by police and released after he handed them a .38-caliber revolver and said he had a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Witnesses said Aaron Davis struck Eichstedt in the head with a metal bar several times. Coleman-Davis was standing apart from the scuffle and was not armed when she was shot.

In a statement released through his attorney, Eichstedt called the death and wounding an "indescribable tragedy."

"However, I only acted in self-defense Davis' race had nothing to do with this incident," he said.
UPDATE: Here's the grand jury report.

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