Jor’Dell Richardson, a 14-year-old boy, was murdered by APD officers Roch Gruszeczka and James Snapp on June 1st, 2023 on 8th and Dayton in Aurora, CO. It is alleged that he and other individuals attempted to rob a store in the area. When officers Snapp and Gruszeczka arrived on the scene, they did not know what had occurred; they simply saw children of color and pursued them. Jor’Dell was left behind by these individuals, and Snapp and Gruszeczka apprehended Jor’Dell in the alleyway. as he, a 14-year-old boy, lay on the ground under two heavily armed police officers, he yelled “you got me, you got me!” and “I can’t breathe!” Although they were lying on top of him they never heard his pleas; in their bias, they saw another person of color and what they thought was a gun. They fatally shot Jor’Dell in the stomach and, despite his desperate requests for help, they showed minimal effort to aid him. He eventually passed away in that alleyway. As he lay there bleeding, they handcuffed him. 

Soon after APD killed Jor’Dell, Interim Chief Acevedo ran a smear campaign against Jor’Dell. They made the public believe he had a gun in his possession when it was in fact a BB-gun - a toy. They harassed the family and friends of Jor’Dell, showing a callous disregard for their grief and pain. 

Art Acevedo was Interim Chief from December 2022 to January 2024. Besides letting murderous officers get away without consequence, he also had a long history of misconduct. Keeping nude photos of a fellow officer with whom he had an affair (and showing them to other officers), conducting a no-knock warrant in Houston that killed two innocent people, and fraternizing with known right-wing extremists like Alex Jones and members of the Proud Boys clearly demonstrated he was unfit to handle cases of police crime with any degree of accountability to the people.