Aurora, Colorado

From ABC 7 in Denver, November 15, 2004:

AURORA, Colo. -- Aurora police said Monday that it is still too early in the investigation to determine what charges, if any, will be filed in a fatal weekend shooting outside a video rental store.

Police said the incident occurred at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday outside a Blockbuster store at Mississippi and Chambers streets when two men began to argue after one of their car doors dinged the other’s car door.

The wife of one of the men tried to break up the confrontation, and then all three parties became involved in a fight, according to witnesses. Police said Aaron P. Davis, 39, acquired a metal pipe type of object and hit Glen Eichstedt, 52, in the head. Eichstedt then allegedly pulled a handgun and shot Davis and his wife, Benita Coleman-Davis, 36, according to police reports.

...

Police are trying to determine if the shooting was done in self defense.

"We need to re-interview all the witnesses in the case and then we will turn over the findings to the District Attorney's Office," said Kathleen Walsh, Aurora police spokesman.

Eichstedt had a concealed weapons permit, according to police.

UPDATE: February 5, 2005 Rocky Mountain News reports:

ARAPAHOE COUNTY - District Attorney Carol Chambers will ask a grand jury to hear the case of a parking-lot shooting at a Blockbuster video store that killed an Aurora man and seriously injured his wife.

...

Police said they didn't have enough probable cause to arrest Eichstedt, co-owner of the Hoffbrau Tavern & Grill near downtown Denver, the night of the Nov. 13 shooting.

That decision brought allegations that Eichstedt wasn't arrested because he is white and the victims are black.

"Finally the mainstream law enforcement is listening to our community," Alvertis Simmons said Friday. Simmons is a black activist who had organized protests at the Hoffbrau.

"I am glad they're going to put it toward a grand jury," Simmons said. "They should come back with an indictment."

Larry Pozner, Eichstedt's attorney, said he believes otherwise. "This event is extremely tragic," he said. "But it doesn't change the nature. It is self-defense, vividly and unquestionably. I'm very comfortable with 12 citizens looking at the facts."

Eichstedt, who had a license to carry a concealed handgun, told police that Davis and his wife attacked him during a fight over a damaged car door.

Police said the three started fighting and Davis hit Eichstedt over the head with a pipe. Eichstedt then pulled out a gun and shot the couple, according to police reports.

UPDATE: From the June 10, 2005 Rocky Mountain News:

CENTENNIAL - An Arapahoe County grand jury will not recommend criminal charges against a man who shot a married couple, killing the husband, during an altercation outside an Aurora video store last November.

In a report released Thursday by Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers, the grand jurors said that Denver restaurateur Glenn Eichstedt acted in self-defense when he fatally shot postal worker Aaron P. Davis in a Blockbuster parking lot after a dispute over a dinged truck door.

The nine-page report says that while the death of Davis is "tragic," it "cannot be the basis of any criminal charges" against Eichstedt, who grand jurors said pulled out his legally licensed handgun after Davis hit him on the head with a metal bar.

At a news conference in her offices, Chambers said the grand jury reached a "no true bill" decision, which means that legal action in the case against Eichstedt is finished.

Chambers said that given the grand jury's ruling, her office will not reopen the case unless new evidence arises against Eichstedt, 52, co-owner of the Hoffbrau Tavern & Grill on Santa Fe Drive in Denver.

Although the case has sparked some racial tensions - Davis was black and Eichstedt is white - several Arapahoe County and Aurora officials said that race was not a factor in the Nov. 13 incident.

Assistant District Attorney Leslie Hansen said that while the grand jury heard conflicting testimony from witnesses, Benita Coleman-Davis testified that her husband struck the first blow.

Hansen said the grand jury considered the metal bar that Davis used a deadly weapon, which was a "significant factor" in their decision.

Eichstedt's attorney, Larry Pozner, said that the clearing of his client shouldn't be considered a victory because a life has been lost and the lives of others will be changed forever.

Coleman-Davis could not be reached Thursday to comment about the grand jury's decision.

In a written statement Eichstedt called the shooting an "indescribable tragedy" and said he acted in self-defense.

"The Davis' race had nothing to do with this incident," he wrote. "The only thought in my mind was saving my life."

Eichstedt also wrote that he suffered a permanent brain injury because of the blow to his head.

The report says the grand jury heard the testimony of seven witnesses, including Coleman-Davis, who was shot twice.

Davis, 39, and his 36-year-old wife were in their Toyota 4-Runner when they pulled into the store parking lot in the 15000 block of East Mississippi Avenue on Nov. 13.

Davis waited in the truck while his wife got out and entered a nearby restaurant to order takeout food.

Minutes later, Eichstedt and a companion, riding in Eichstedt's Ford Mustang, parked in a spot next to Davis' truck so they could eat at the same restaurant.

When Eichstedt got out of his car, he allegedly dinged Davis' truck with his door and Davis got out of his vehicle to confront him.

The two men started arguing and Coleman-Davis said that Eichstedt yelled, "I didn't damage your truck!" and "What do you want to do, little man?"

Eichstedt weighs about 235 pounds and is 6 feet, 1 inch tall. Davis weighed 166 pounds and was 5 feet, 9 inches tall.

The witnesses' accounts vary slightly about what happened next, with Coleman-Davis saying that Eichstedt leaned toward her and she pushed him away.

Other witnesses said that Eich-stedt reached over Coleman-Davis to hit her husband, who started to strike Eichstedt with what was later determined to be a bar that was eight to 10 inches long.

Witnesses testified that the couple began to beat Eichstedt, who fell to the ground. Eichstedt later said he thought the man was going to "bash his brains in," the grand jury report said.

Eichstedt pulled out the .38-caliber revolver that he told police he always carries because his bar/restaurant had been robbed before.

He fired the gun four times, with two bullets hitting Davis in the torso and the other two hitting his wife in the upper body.

Davis, a Jehovah's Witness who could not accept blood transfusions because of his religion, died from hemorrhaging.