Denver officer suffered broken femur in Saturday shooting; suicidal suspect still hospitalized

DENVER – The Denver Police Department officer who was shot during an incident with a man in crisis early Saturday morning suffered a broken femur in the shooting, and had only been working as a solo officer for three weeks.

The Denver Police Department named the suspect involved in the incident as Brandon Gerwing, 23. He has no prior criminal record, though officers had to talk him down during a similar incident at his home last October, police said Monday.

Gerwing was shot several times in his torso, police said, and he remains hospitalized in critical condition as of Monday. Once he is released from the hospital, he faces investigation on attempted first-degree murder and first-degree assault on a peace officer charges.

Police said Monday that several officers tried to de-escalate the situation after they arrived to Gerwing’s home near South Quitman and West Armherst around 4:40 a.m. Saturday.

Most of the officers had set up about 100 feet from where Gerwing was in his garage, telling him they were there to help, according to police.

But he “wasn’t receptive,” officers said Monday, and after 25 minutes of negotiations, continued to make “angry statements,” a police spokesperson said.

The officers had yet to see that he allegedly had a handgun in his possession, which the department says he suddenly pulled out and moved rapidly toward the officers at the scene. The department said Monday that Gerwing fired at the officers first.

A spokesperson for the department said Gerwing got within about 10 feet of the officers when he started shooting. Officer John Allred deployed his TASER on Gerwing, hitting him.

At the same time, Sgt. Chad Kendall fired his handgun at Gerwing, hitting him several times.

Allred was shot in the leg and suffered a broken femur, and Gerwing was shot several times. No other officers were injured.

Denver police confirmed that Gerwing was using social media while the situation was ongoing, and said he was also suspected of being under the influence of alcohol.

Gerwing was not charged or cited in the October incident.

Sgt. Kendal is an 11-year veteran of the department and has been put on standard administrative leave while the shooting is investigated. None of the other four officers involved have been put on leave.

The department says it will release body camera video of the shooting as soon as it interviews Gerwing and Allred. It also said that all of the officers at the scene that morning had completed crisis intervention training.

“We send sincere condolences to the injured police officer and his family and [are] praying for his recovery,” a Gerwing family spokesperson told Denver7.