On April 16, 18th Judicial District DA John Kellner s office released a decision letter declaring the December 2020 Castle Rock police shooting of James Woodall during a domestic violence incident to be justified a development that several Denver-area news outlets reported in perfunctory fashion. But the document reveals that the incident was far more complex and concerning than such coverage implies.
According to the decision letter, authored by chief deputy district attorney Elizabeth Oldham, Castle Rock Officer James Dinges mistook a knife in Woodall s hand for a gun and fired at him with a Colt M4 rifle after hearing a blast from what he thought was the suspect s firearm. However, the sound was actually produced by fellow officer Luke Godfrey squeezing the trigger of his Remington 870, referred to as a less-than-lethal shotgun although such weapons have been known to maim, as evidenced by injuries detailed in multiple lawsuits filed after the protests against racist polici