Police Brutality / Individual record
Naeschylus Vinzant
Naeschylus Vinzant was unarmed when Aurora police officer Paul Jerothe shot and killed him on March 6, 2015.
- Record ID
- PB-120
- Incident date
- March 6, 2015
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Aurora, CO
- Agency
- Aurora Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 37
What happened
Aurora police were looking for Naeschylus Vinzant in connection with outstanding felony warrants when Officer Paul Jerothe shot him in a residential area. Police publicly identified Jerothe as the officer who fired the fatal round. Authorities described Vinzant as wanted for several offenses, but contemporaneous reporting established that he was unarmed at the time he was shot. His relatives protested at the Aurora Municipal Center and criticized the lack of immediate answers about precisely what led to the officer's decision to use deadly force. Because of concerns about conflicts, the shooting review was reassigned to the Jefferson County district attorney.
Investigation & findings
The source documents an unarmed death, the identity of the shooter and reassignment of the investigation; it does not establish a final finding of criminal responsibility.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 269
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- unarmed
- Flee status (source)
- foot
- Agency IDs (source)
- 21
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset
- Fatal Force methodology and data limitationsThe Washington Post · Methodology