In the late afternoon of August 21, 2020, a disturbance in Greeley, Colorado, ended in gunfire, silencing the life of 20-year-old Elijah Joziah Duran of Aurora. The incident, which unfolded near 7th Avenue and 12th Street, also resulted in the death of 19-year-old Deionte Lashay Dior Johnson-Smith, who was also from Aurora. When Greeley police officers responded to reports of shots fired around 5:15 p.m., they discovered two men had been shot. Duran was pronounced dead at the scene. Johnson-Smith was rushed to a local hospital with serious injuries but succumbed to his wounds the following morning.
The investigation into the double homicide was a collaborative effort between the Greeley Police Department and the Weld County District Attorney's Office. Although there were several witnesses to the event, no arrests were made in the immediate aftermath. The details of what precipitated the shooting remained unclear, and it was not known if the parties involved had any prior acquaintance. Detectives interviewed numerous individuals who were present during the disturbance to piece together the sequence of events that led to the fatal encounter.
Ultimately, after a thorough review of all the evidence gathered during the investigation, both law enforcement agencies made the decision not to file any criminal charges against the individual who fired the shots. The shooter asserted a claim of self-defense, a defense that prosecutors determined they could not disprove. According to the district attorney's office, a person is justified in using deadly force if they have a reasonable belief that they are in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that lesser force would be inadequate. With this legal standard in mind, the case was closed without any arrests or suspects being publicly named or charged in the deaths of Elijah Joziah Duran and Deionte Lashay Dior Johnson-Smith.
