Boulder police officer shot and killed a 42-year-old male armed with two knives outside of his apartment at the Wimbledon Condominiums midday Sunday.
Boulder Police officers were dispatched to 3009 Madison St. Apartment J208 around 7:30 a.m. Sunday on a potential domestic situation after receiving a call from the mother of 41-year-old Kirsten Stenseng, the Boulder Police Department said in a news release on Monday. The mother was concerned, police said, about Stenseng’s welfare.
Stenseng told the responding officers that nothing had happened between her and her boyfriend, whom she had a restraining order against.
Officers attempted to contact the boyfriend, but received no answer at the door of the apartment. The officers did not have probable cause that any crimes other than the restraining order violation had been committed, the release said, so they left the apartment complex after watching Stenseng drive away.
According to Sunday and Monday news releases, the Boulder Police Department received a call from a neighbor at 12:30 p.m. that same day reporting a man wielding a knife and machete was stabbing a post outside of his apartment.
In the Sunday release, Boulder police said the 12:30 p.m. caller reported “a man” was “making threatening remarks.” In the Monday release, police said the caller reported “the suspect” was “yelling and throwing things.”
“The manner in which the suspect was yelling led the caller to believe the victim (Stenseng) was in the apartment,” Boulder police said in the Monday release. “He was therefore concerned for her safety.”
City of Boulder media relations manager Sarah Huntley said that several officers arrived at the scene. No one was outside, but they believed Stenseng was in the apartment with the man because her car was parked outside.
The officers assembled a team of four to attempt to make contact at the apartment. When there was no response, they forced the door open.
Before the officers entered the apartment, they said that the man took off toward the door with one knife in each of his hands. He was wearing shoulder, breast and elbow pads as well as shin guards along with a black T-shirt, khaki pants, body armor reminiscent of dirt bike protective wear and furry Ugg boots.
Officers ordered the man to “get down” and possibly “drop the knife,” but the man ran toward them.
At approximately 12:46 p.m., Boulder Police Department officer Nick Smetzer, a 12-year veteran and SWAT team member, deflected the suspect with a ballistic shield as he ran past him and toward officer Vincent Gallerani.
“Thinking the first officer had been injured and he was about to be stabbed, Officer Gallerani fired three shots at very close range, striking the suspect at least two times,” Boulder police said.
Gallerani used a Heckler and Kock, model 416, .223 caliber rifle. No one else was in the apartment.
According to the news release, the suspect immediately fell while still holding the knives. Smetzer then kicked the knives out of the suspect’s hands.
Huntley said that an ambulance came shortly after and transported the suspect to Boulder Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Stenseng was found safe in a nearby apartment with another resident. Follow-up investigation showed she had received threatening comments on social media page from the man, who in one instance threatened to kill her.
According to the news release, Gallerani will be placed on paid administrative leave until the investigation is completed, as the department’s policy mandates.
Boulder police said in the release that officer-involved shootings are “unusual” in Boulder. The last one occurred in 2008 when a SWAT officer shot and killed a man who threatened to detonate a bomb he said he was wearing in Boulder Community Hospital.
Various county law enforcement agencies, combined on an investigation team, is looking into the incident.
Contact CU Independent Breaking News Editor Ali Tadayon at Ali.tadayon@colorado.edu.
