On a quiet afternoon in Denver, Kirsty Shelton was at home with her daughters and their grandmother, preparing lunch and enjoying a peaceful moment together. Suddenly, their calm was shattered by the loud, aggressive banging of a SWAT team at their door. The officers were searching for a man suspected of serious crimes, but they had mistakenly targeted the wrong apartment. Despite Shelton’s mother insisting they had the wrong unit, the family was ordered outside at gunpoint. What followed was a harrowing ordeal that left the Shelton family deeply traumatized and seeking justice through a lawsuit filed against the Denver Police Department.
According to the lawsuit, the officers entered the apartment and encountered Shelton’s two young daughters, aged 5 and 6, in their bedroom. Body camera footage from the June 2023 incident reveals an officer attempting to reassure the girls, telling them they could stay and play while he fetched their grandmother. However, the children, terrified by the sudden intrusion, began screaming in fear. The family, including another adult who had just stepped out of the shower, was then forced into a locked police car for nearly an hour as officers continued their search. Shockingly, the lawsuit claims that police were aware the suspect lived in apartment 307, not 306, where the Sheltons resided, and that the unit numbers were clearly marked. Despite this, officers allegedly denied the raid ever occurred, further compounding the family’s distress.
The lawsuit, filed under Colorado’s 2020 police reform law, argues that the officers violated the family’s constitutional rights by subjecting them to an unlawful search and seizure, as well as excessive force. Shelton’s attorneys, John Holland and Dan Weiss, highlighted that some officers’ reports failed to mention the raid on the family’s apartment altogether. The suspect was eventually arrested hours later in the apartment directly across the hall, but the damage to the Shelton family had already been done. Shelton expressed her frustration, stating that the police promised an investigation but instead covered up the incident, failing to produce a report more than a year and a half later.
This case is not an isolated incident. Last year, a 78-year-old Denver woman won a $3.76 million verdict after her home was wrongly searched by a SWAT team looking for a stolen truck. The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, which represented her, revealed that police had obtained a search warrant based on flawed information from the truck’s owner, who used the Find My app to track his phone to her home. While such mistakes are rare, according to Thor Eells, a former SWAT commander and executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association, they underscore the challenges of tactical operations in densely populated areas like apartment buildings. Eells explained that once an operation begins, officers cannot simply retreat, as they must ensure the location is secure for everyone’s safety.
Experts in tactical operations emphasize the complexities of executing raids in apartment buildings, where unit numbers can be unclear, and residents frequently move in and out. Mark Lomax, former executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association, noted that thorough preparation, such as surveillance and reviewing floor plans, can help minimize errors. However, in high-pressure situations, mistakes can still occur, leaving innocent families to bear the emotional and psychological scars. For the Shelton family, the trauma of that day lingers, a stark reminder of the consequences when law enforcement actions go awry. Their pursuit of accountability through the legal system highlights the need for greater transparency and reform in policing practices to prevent such incidents from happening again.