A 16-year-old girl has died after being shot by police who claim that she struck an officer while driving a stolen car in Denver, prosecutors said.
The teenager, who was identified as Jessica Hernandez, died Monday at an area hospital, sparking immediate outrage and calls by angry protestors outside the office of District Attorney Mitch Morissey to investigate the shooting, the Associated Press reported. On Monday night, demonstrators held a vigil to protest the killing of Jessica and decry what they call police brutality.
The incident, which occurred in an alley of an older, middle-class residential neighborhood, also involved four other people, who were confirmed to have not been injured. Authorities have questioned them as part of the investigation, Police Chief Robert White said.
"We're angry about it. It's another life taken by another cop," said Cynthia Valdez, 19, a friend and classmate. "She was trying to find her talent. She wanted to find out who she wanted to be."
About 6:30 a.m. on Monday, officers found four girls and a teenage boy inside a vehicle after responding to a call about a suspicious vehicle in an alley, witnesses said.
The two officers then "approached the vehicle on foot when the driver drove the car into one of the officers," police said in a statement.
Four gunshots were fired, followed by a male voice shouting "Freeze! Get out of the car!" according to Bobbie Diaz, whose 16-year-old daughter was one of the occupants and who heard the gunfire from her building, according to CBS Denver.
Upon stepping out, she spotted armed officers pulling people out of the car, including Jessica. "She seemed like she was not responding, not moving. They just yanked her out and handcuffed her," Diaz said.
She also heard another person screaming, "She's dead! She's dead!"
The teenagers had been sitting inside the car, talking and listening to music, another mother told the Denver Post, adding that her daughter did not know that the car was stolen.
Although it remains unclear if Jessica intentionally struck the officer, the police officers filed protocol by opening fire, White said, adding that the injured officer was treated and released from a nearby hospital.
"I'm just trying to process everything. I'm just heartbroken for the girl's family," Diaz said. "How could something like this happen again?"
"They shouldn't have stolen a car. But the cops are too fast on the gun," she said. "You've got stun guns. You've got rubber bullets. Why do they have to shoot all the time?" Arellia Hammock, who has lived in the neighborhood for about a decade, said.
"It should have been handled differently. She's a young girl. I'm just not OK with it," said 16-year-old Destiny Moya, who grew up with Jessica.
Meanwhile, both officers involved have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation of the shooting, which was being conducted by police, the district attorney and the Office of the Independent Monitor, a civilian oversight agency for the city, New York Daily News reported.
