Statement on Jax Gratton

ement on Jax Gratton

Jax Gratton was a 34-year-old transgender woman, advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, and a hairstylist in Denver, Colorado. She was well known for her empathy, activism for a better world, and her generosity. Jax was a kind individual that was empathetic with Transgender women and would offer free haircuts to homeless people. 

Jax went missing on April 15, 2025. Her body was discovered in an alleyway in Lakewood, Colorado, on June 6, 2025, and her death was confirmed by her mother, Cherilynne Gratton-Camis, on June 7. She had last been seen leaving her apartment in Denver around 10pm on the 15th of April according to her roommate, who had been told she’d only be gone for a few hours.

A devastating amount of time had passed between Jax’s disappearance and when her body was found. Jax was ultimately reported missing by her mother, who was worried that Jax might have been killed by an abusive ex. Though the police claim that Jax’s body was found by a passerby, she was in fact found between two buildings in Lakewood in an area that would be difficult to access by the public. The police search of this area didn’t occur until weeks after Jax’s body had been found. 

The Lakewood Police mishandled Jax’s case from the start when they deadnamed her publicly, misgendered her, delayed communications around the status of her case, and showed their lack of regard for the details in the investigation by saying that the autopsy results were inconclusive, and that it was impossible to determine the cause of death beyond a fall, jump, or push from a second-story window above where her body was found. We understand that this is happening in the same country that conducted a nation-wide man-hunt for Luigi Mangione, and that there exist a great variety of sophisticated means the police have at their disposal to investigate crime. With those means available and opting instead to try and close the case, the Lakewood Police department has failed this family, community, and the entire city of Lakewood by rubber-stamping such a slap-dash investigation. Someone has been murdered in Lakewood and those responsible have not been brought to justice. By choosing to limit their investigation in the way they have, the Lakewood Police have left Jax’s family in a state of anguish, and they are actively seeking answers and justice.

The Denver Aurora Community Action Committee stands with Jax Gratton’s loved ones, the LGBTQIA+ community, and all those demanding justice for Jax. We condemn the transphobic negligence of the Lakewood Police department in failing to conduct a serious investigation into her death, treating her death as an unfortunate accident instead. We support those demanding the formation of an independent oversight task force and a trauma-informed, trans competent, transparent investigation into her murder. Furthermore, we demand that the Lakewood Police Department be placed under community control, with the creation of an all-Civilian Police Accountability council, with real power to hold police accountable when they commit crimes, misconduct, or are negligent in the course of investigating the murder of our loved ones and neighbors.

We urge our supporters to contact the Lakewood City Council and sign the Justice for Jax petition, and amplify these calls for justice. Jax’s legacy is that of empathy, courage, compassion, and dedication to the people. We hope to embody her legacy as we march on to justice for Jax, and towards a future that puts our community in control of the institutions that claim to serve us.

Statement on Alejandro Orellana's Charges Being Dropped

The Denver Aurora Community Action Committee congratulates Alejandro Orellana and the Centro CSO for their victory over two bogus federal charges and a campaign of FBI political repression. 

Such a victory was only possible through the combined efforts of all those forces in the peoples’ movement for freedom who joined them in the fight, and we’re honored to have participated and learned from it all. 

Alejandro was threatened with 5 years in prison. The prosecutor and law enforcement said that he drove a truck carrying personal protective equipment (PPE) and face shields to anti-ICE protests and that this constituted a conspiracy to commit a crime. What is criminal is violating peoples’ due process with ICE raids and turning gas and guns against a civilian population engaged in protest.

Between the Rocky Mountains and The Great Plains of Colorado exists a rising movement to put an end to racist mass deportations and detentions, and police crimes. Many of us have tasted police gas and felt the pain of rubber-coated metal-core bullets in the summer of 2020 when people across the country mobilized in the millions against racist police violence in the name of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Elijah McClain. Colorado local Jax Feldmann lost an eye from this police violence. 

We salute Alejandro Orellana for distributing masks and face-shields at protests in LA where the police were attacking the people with similar techniques. What Alejandro did was the right thing to do, and if we had a say in how the city of L.A. is run we’d award him a medal for his efforts to protect the people. Instead Alejandro was subject to a campaign of surveillance, political repression, false-charges, and character assasination by the FBI and the LAPD. Fortunately, through the combined efforts of organizers across the country, a public defense campaign, and an aggressive legal strategy, our brother Alejandro prevailed against these attacks. We’re glad that he’s still in the fight.

When Donald Trump and the rotten system he represents attacks the peoples’ movement, it represents nothing other than the attempts of a dying racist trying to fix the cracks in a big wall that holds back the people, but every crack just gets bigger because the people’s push for freedom keeps growing stronger. 

The police and ICE are growing more emboldened in their attacks on the people because they have a friend in the White House. The amount of people subject to the torture of solitary confinement is skyrocketing under this administration. Donald Trump is waging a war across the globe and is mobilizing the military in occupation of American cities like DC and LA, and he’s threatening to do the same in Portland and Chicago. 

Trump is actively executing a police state and a situation has arisen that calls out to every single conscious person who yearns for freedom to enter into practical activity to organize a fight back that will deliver the people from this tyrant. There is no better time than the present to heed this call, and the story of Alejandro shows that the people stand behind and support the heroes who serve the people.

Blows against the peoples’ movement teach us in struggle, and we grow more resilient, determined, and capable in the fight for the survival and advancement of the people. We intend to apply the lessons we’ve learned to the fight against police crime and for community power over the police.

Stop the deportations!

All power to the people!

Hands off our movements!

Statement Condemning the Trump administration's decision to federalize law enforcement in DC. 

The Denver Aurora Community Action Committee (DACAC) stands with our sister chapter, the DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (DCAARPR), in condemning the Trump administration's decision to federalize law enforcement in DC. 

On Monday, August 11th, 2025, the Trump Administration announced that the federal government will control the Metropolitan Police Department and will deploy 800 troops of the National Guard. 

The system that produced Trump is waging war on the people, especially Black, Chicano, and Native people, and the police and military are what they send to the front lines.

These “tough-on-crime” displays of violence by the Trump admin’s invasions and military occupations of cities like LA and DC are a racist surge of the war on working and oppressed people.

This is a blatant attempt by a white supremacist administration to escalate tensions in a historically Black community in order to expand the reach of executive power. Trump and his band of bigots say that crime is out of control. We know that this is a lie. Violent crime in the District of Columbia is down 35% from previous years and is the lowest it has been in over 30 years. Even if this were not the case, we know that the answer to reducing crime is not the police.

Systemic oppression and poverty are the leading factors for crime, and putting cities under military occupation will never resolve that problem. That change can only come from the organization and mobilization of all those who can be united against oppression. We aim to help make this change by fighting for Community Control of the Police. 

The increased police presence, who do nothing but hassle the community, will only make these issues worse, especially for Black residents, though we know that they also pose a threat to the DC homeless community and other oppressed people.  We stand with DCAARPR as they fight against this violent occupation of their hometown. We will help them fight back, and we will all win!

We agree with and lift up DCAARPR’s demands in solidarity from the Rocky Mountains:

National Guard out of DC!

MPD Stop Terrorizing Black Communities!

Community Control of the Police Now!

DC Statehood Now!

No to Military Occupation!

Statement on the APD Murder of Rashaud Terelle Johnson

On May 12th, the Aurora Police Department made the decision to shoot and kill Rashaud Terrelle Johnson. The officer responsible has been placed on paid leave pending an investigation, which will no doubt find his actions justified. They take the life of a rising comedy star, a kind and loving man cherished by his family, friends, and community, and then investigate themselves and act as if there was no other choice. It is a story all too familiar to countless families across the country. But these killings can be stopped.

The killing of Rashaud Terrelle Johnson, like every killing in Aurora at the hands of the APD, shows two things: APD has consistently failed its community, and that our failed system upholds racist violence and injustice. The same goes for the murder of Kory Dillard, of Kilyn Lewis, of George Floyd, of every single person who the police deprive of their right to a fair trial. Every killing by the police is a result of their training in killology, the weapons at their disposal, and the way the most violent, corrupt, and racist cops are sheltered by the so-called “justice system”.

The toll of police violence continues to rise year after year because officers always get away with it. These officers must be held accountable for their actions. Not by some internal review board, not by an “external” council made up of investigators from colluding law enforcement agencies, but by the very communities these officers are meant to be serving. If the police are allowed to act as judge, jury, and executioner with zero consequences, they will not stop.. Violent and racist police officers and their departments must face consequences for their actions, including indictment and conviction for their crimes.

To avoid responsibility, the police continue to hide the evidence. The Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee is hard at work filing CORA and CCJRA requests for bodycam footage, coroner’s reports, and police reports relating to the numerous victims of the APD’s violence. They respond by sending us on fool’s errands and hiding evidence behind multi-thousand-dollar paywalls. In the most recent case of Rashaud’s murder, even his family has not been allowed to see all the footage. This is a flagrant display of contempt for the law, as well as the people the APD claim to serve and protect.

The APD cannot be allowed to continue killing with impunity. We must take action to create real change in the way our justice system functions. We must demand more from the  “leaders” in the government and put pressure on them to serve the people. An interaction with the police should not be a death sentence. Our black and brown neighbors should not be scared for their lives every time they see a police uniform. It is time for change.

The family of Rashaud Terelle Johnson - with the full support of DACAC - demands the following:

• The release of full, unedited bodycam footage related to Rashaud’s killing, as well as the coroner’s report

• A truly independent investigation into Rashaud’s killing, including an independent autopsy

• The public release of the identity of the officer responsible

• Criminal charges against the officer responsible

• A guarantee that the officer responsible is not eligible for employment as a law enforcement officer anywhere else

• A full apology from the city of Aurora and Adams County

• Community control of the police

How can we actually achieve all of this? In the Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee, we aim to establish a Civilian Police Accountability Council. This CPAC will be a democratically elected, all-civilian board of members of the community who will have the final say over police budgets and policies, hiring and firing officers, and even charging officers with crimes when they break the law. Our sister chapter, the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, has already seen some success in this campaign. Working with allies in the community, CAARPR was able to establish the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. This office has worked to hold officers accountable for misconduct, but there is still work to be done as our sister chapter presses on for full community control through a CPAC in Chicago.

Join us as we fight for community control of the police in Aurora, to bring justice to the families of all those killed by the APD!

Statement on the APD Murder of 14-year old Jor’Dell Richardson

On Thursday June 1st at around 4:20 pm, a 14-year old Black teenager named Jor’Dell Richardson was shot in the back by a yet to be identified Aurora police officer. He was shot on the ground when he was already subdued by said officer. 

Police allege that Jor’Dell and a group of unidentified individuals were attempting to rob a convenience store on the corner of 8th and Dayton. Jor’Dell was followed by APD officers to an alleyway behind the store where he was shot to death. Jor’Dell was lying on his stomach with his back in the air when he was killed by an APD officer.

APD claims that Jor’Dell was armed at the time of the incident. Interim Chief of Aurora PD Art Acevedo said in a press conference, “These kids think that this is a video game. I don't know what they think this is.” Killing a Black child in cold blood is a racist police crime. 

Chief Acevedo’s history of misconduct, from keeping nude photos of a fellow officer in a squad car, with whom he had an affair, and showing them to other officers in the 2000s, to conducting a no-knock warrant in Houston in 2019 that killed two innocent people, to fraternizing with known right-wing extremists like Alex Jones and members of the Proud Boys in the 2010s, clearly demonstrates he is unfit to handle cases of police crime with accountability to the people.

Roch Gruszeczka Aurora police officer who shot and killed 14 year old Jor’dell while he was on the ground was cleared of all criminal liability by district attorney John Kellner.

The Richardson Family and the Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee are raising the following demands for justice for Jor’Dell Richardson:

• The firing, indictment, and conviction of the Aurora PD officer who shot Jor’Dell Richardson to death.

• An immediate independent investigation into the Aurora Police Department by the Department of Justice to discover department-wide misconduct.

• Community control of APD!

Free Jordan Waddy! Convict Brandon Ramos! - A Year of Struggle for Police Accountability in Denver

A year ago today on July 17th, 2022, America witnessed one of the most heinous police crimes of this century. 3 Denver PD Officers, Meagen Lieberson, Kenneth Rowland, and Brandon Ramos shot into the throng of people exiting the Larimer Beer Hall at 1:30 in the morning. 7 people were injured, including Jordan Waddy, Bailey Alexander, Willis Small IV and Yekalo Weldehiwet. This was a modern day lynching. Somehow, no one died from this racist police mass shooting.

Jordan Waddy was subsequently arrested and charged later that week by DA Beth McCann of 3 counts of possession of a weapon by a previous offender and one count of aggravated assault. The police officers who shot him and 6 others were not arrested. We knew we had to do something. The Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee stepped up to the plate and called all of our allies together for our first protest. Over 200 people participated.

Since then, we have organized several successful protests and phone zaps, organized people to show up for public comment, and collected hundreds of signatures for our petition to free Jordan Waddy. We have worked with the families of other victims of police crimes and helped them connect their struggles into a movement for police accountability in our communities. 

Our efforts have paid off. On January 4th, a grand jury decision was released that indicted Brandon Ramos, one of the officers who committed the mass shooting. He is facing 2 felony charges, 12 misdemeanor charges, and decades in prison. When we come together and fight for a common cause, we can and will win!

But the fight is not over. Jordan Waddy is still facing up to 10 years in prison himself. Jordan has been detained at the Denver Justice Center for a year now, while Ramos gets to walk the streets on bond. Jordan Waddy has recently pleaded not guilty to all charges after being offered a cruel excuse for a plea deal. With Jordan’s trial coming up in November, we must continue organizing for justice for Jordan Waddy, which is dropping ALL of his charges and putting his would-be killer Brandon Ramos behind bars.

We will continue to uphold the following demands:

Drop all charges against Jordan Waddy

Convict Brandon Ramos on all 12 charges 

Indict & convict Meagen Lieberson & Kenneth Rowland

Launch an investigation into the July 17th mass shooting by the Department of Justice

Establish community control of DPD through a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC)

Free Jordan Waddy!

Convict Brandon Ramos!

Community Control Now!