COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A local landmark was vandalized Tuesday morning with the name of a man who was shot and killed by police in a controversial shooting earlier this year.
A sign that celebrates Colorado Springs as "Olympic City USA" was vandalized with red paint sometime before dawn Tuesday with the worlds "De' Von Bailey will not RIP."
Colorado Springs Police responded to the site of the vandalism.
"The City has responded to address the vandalism per its normal procedures. Code enforcement cleaned the graffiti just after 8:00 this morning," Colorado Springs spokesperson Kim Melchor said. She added that it would be the only comment from the city today.
The vandalism comes days after protesters disrupted the city's Christmas parade by joining the procession with signs and blocking the flow of traffic by lying in the street.
De'Von Bailey was shot and killed by police on Aug. 3. In November, a grand jury found that Sergeant Alan Van't Land and Officer Blake Evenson were legally justified in shooting Bailey in the back as he ran away.
Police say they stopped Bailey and his cousin that day in connection with reports of robbery with an armed weapon. Bailey was armed at the time of the shooting.
Family and community members raised concerns about the shooting in the days and weeks afterward the shooting. Attorneys for the family demanded an independent investigation into the shooting, rather than following the normal protocol of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office gathering the evidence and the 4th Judicial District making a determination on whether to file charges.
District Attorney Dan May referred the case to a grand jury, which determined there are two legal grounds upon which the officers were justified in the use of deadly physical force — one that is commonly referred to as the "fleeing felon" defense. The other is self-defense and defense against others.
This story was originally published by Benjamin Lloyd on
KOAA
in Colorado Springs.
