The Denver Police Department said this week that a person they shot and killed last week was a transgender individual who tried to attack a police officer with a large knife.
The suspect, 52-year-old Miguel Tapia, a man who claimed that he was a woman, tried to attack a police officer last week with a 7-inch knife, according to body camera footage that was released of the incident.
The shooting happened last Sunday in an intersection when police confronted Tapia and told him to drop what he was holding and to put his hands on his head.
Tapia started aggressively moving toward the police officer with the knife in his hand, at which point two police officers fired tasers at him in an effort to stop him.
When the tasers were unsuccessful, the police officer that he was running after pulled out his pistol and unloaded several shots into the attacker. Another officer also fired at the suspect.
DPD Commander Matt Clark refused to discuss the suspect’s prior criminal history during the press conference and said anyone who wanted to know what it was could go look it up themselves.
