The Arapahoe County Coroner's Office has identified Michael Kocher, 32, as the man who was shot and fatally wounded by Englewood police during the March 3 standoff involving hostages at a house in the 2800 block of South Bannock Street. The coroner's office said Kocher died from a single gunshot wound.
The incident that resulted in the fatal shooting began about 1:45 pm. March 3 when police received a report of man who barricaded himself in the house at 2895 S. Bannock St. The suspect reportedly had hostages in the house. Police tried to negotiate and convince Kocher to give up. But that didn't happen and after a more-than-two-hour standoff, the suspect was fatally shot by an officer on the scene. No police officers or hostages were injured.
The suspect, identified March 6 as Kocher, was transported to Swedish Medical Center and later died. Kocher's Facebook page said he lived in Denver.
At the scene, Englewood police investigator Kevin Sage said the man was connected to the house in some way but was unsure if he lived there. He could not say at the time whether a gun was found on him.
"We were told that he was armed," Sage said.
Englewood Police are not releasing the name of the officer who fired the shot and, and in keeping with department policy, the officer has been placed on administrative leave.
Cmdr. Tim Englert said Englewood detectives are continuing the investigation and, at the same time, members of the 18th Judicial District Critical Response Team are conducting an independent investigation of the shooting. Police have not released any information on the circumstances that led to the standoff.
“The response team is made up of detectives from a number of jurisdictions and district attorney's office investigators,” he said. “When the team completes its investigation it will send a report to the district attorney for the 18th Judicial District so the district attorney can decide on disposition of the case.”
On March 6, Jose Carrera-Hernandez said the neighborhood where the shooting occurred is typically quiet and peaceful.
“I am staying with a friend at the other end of the block and it is pretty quiet around here just about all the time,” the Arizona man said. “I was at work when all that stuff happened at that house where the cops shot that guy but, when I got off early, I couldn't get to the house because police had everything blocked off. It was a couple hours before the cops would let me in.”
Greg Weglin heads a crew working on rehabilitating two houses on the other side of the street, three houses down from the Bannock-Bates intersection. He talked about what he saw and heard on March 3.
“I was working with the guys when the police arrived and told me to get everyone to the back of the house we are working on,” he said. “I looked out front and there were police everywhere. Guys had their guns out and there was a SWAT team dressed in black and carrying rifles of some kind.”
He said he was in the back of the house, heard three loud explosions and came to the front of the house to see what was happening.
“When we got to the windows, everything was about over,” he said.