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Alex Domina

Age : 19

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 08/16/2021

Location : 1600 block of Tennessee Street

City : Loveland

County : Larimer

State : Colorado

Agency : Loveland Police Department

Officer(s) :Eddie Luzon

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during mental health crisis

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/16/2021, Loveland Police Department Officer Eddie Luzon shot 19-year-old Alexander “Alex” Domina during a mental health crisis at the home where Domina lived with his grandmother and legal guardian, Judy Domina, in the 1600 block of Tennessee Street. Alex remained hospitalized for three weeks and died from the gunshot wounds on 09/07/2021.
Judy Domina called 911 asking for help because Alex was having what she described as a mental breakdown and was damaging property inside the home. She explained that her grandson had significant intellectual and developmental disabilities and had previously been institutionalized. She repeatedly emphasized that the situation involved mental health and asked responders to handle him carefully. She initially told dispatch that Alex had not hurt anyone and did not have a weapon, but later reported that he had picked up a kitchen knife.
Judy also told the dispatcher that Alex could be talked down. Her attorney, Mari Newman, later emphasized that point in questioning why the encounter was handled by an armed police officer rather than through a behavioral-health response. Loveland had contracted with SummitStone Health Partners since 2016 to embed mental-health professionals with the police department, but a mental-health co-responder was not sent into the backyard with Luzon.
Luzon arrived shortly before 7 p.m. Judy met him and told him that Alex had a knife. Luzon then entered the backyard alone. His body-worn camera recorded the entire critical encounter. Alex was visible farther into the yard holding a kitchen knife and damaging objects around the property.
The body-camera recording shows Luzon initially speaking calmly to Alex and repeatedly asking him to put down the knife and talk. Alex repeatedly said that he was not “going back,” an apparent reference to his previous institutionalization. Luzon remained inside the yard rather than withdrawing behind a barrier or waiting for additional officers or behavioral-health personnel.
Approximately one minute after Luzon entered the backyard, Alex began moving toward him while still holding the knife. Luzon backed away and repeatedly ordered him to stop. The subsequent prosecutor's review calculated that only about one minute and 13 seconds elapsed between Luzon's arrival and the shooting.
Luzon fired four rounds when Alex was approximately 15 to 23 feet away. Three bullets struck Alex in the abdomen. No other officer fired. The shooting was captured on Luzon's body camera.
Alex was transported to Medical Center of the Rockies in critical condition. He underwent five surgeries and remained on life support while doctors attempted to treat the extensive injuries and subsequent infections. After three weeks in the hospital, Alex died during the afternoon of 09/07/2021.
Alex's family and attorney challenged not simply the instant when Luzon fired, but the police decisions that created the confrontation. Newman argued that Judy had specifically summoned emergency help for an intellectually disabled young man in crisis, had explained that he could be talked down, and had warned responders about his mental condition. The family questioned why police did not slow the encounter down, create distance, use a trained mental-health responder or employ another strategy before placing an armed officer within close range of Alex.
Community members held demonstrations outside the Loveland Municipal Building following the shooting and demanded changes in how the department responds to people experiencing behavioral-health emergencies. The killing occurred while Loveland police were already under intense scrutiny for their treatment of vulnerable and disabled people, particularly the violent 2020 arrest of 73-year-old Karen Garner, who had dementia.
The 8th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team investigated the shooting, with Fort Collins Police Services serving as the lead investigative agency. The investigation included Luzon's body-camera recording, the 911 call and interviews and was submitted to 8th Judicial District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin.
On 09/10/2021, three days after Alex died, McLaughlin announced that Luzon would not face criminal charges. The DA concluded that when Alex continued approaching with the knife despite Luzon's commands to stop, Luzon reasonably believed he faced an imminent threat of serious injury or death and was legally justified in firing.
McLaughlin nevertheless made an unusual distinction between criminal justification and the broader circumstances that produced Alex's death. He stressed that finding the shooting legally justified did not absolve the city and police department from examining how the encounter was handled and urged Loveland officials to reconsider their response to people experiencing mental and behavioral-health crises.
Alex had significant cognitive and developmental disabilities and had spent years in institutional settings before moving into his grandmother's home. His repeated statements during the body-camera recording that he was not going back took place against that history. His family said after his death that their principal hope was that his killing would lead to better mental-health training for Colorado police so another family would not experience the same outcome.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Eddie Luzon joined the Loveland Police Department in 2019 and had approximately two years with the department when he shot Alex. Luzon was a patrol officer and was placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting.
Significantly, later reporting indicates Luzon was not an officer with no specialized preparation for behavioral-health encounters. He held Crisis Intervention Training certification and was also a defensive-tactics instructor. The shooting therefore occurred despite Luzon's crisis-intervention training and after dispatch had been explicitly informed that Alex was experiencing a mental-health crisis.
The 8th Judicial District Attorney concluded on 09/10/2021 that Luzon's four shots were legally justified and declined to prosecute him. The DA nevertheless used his decision to call for broader examination of Loveland's handling of vulnerable people and behavioral-health emergencies.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2021/08/17/loveland-police-shooting-teen-identified-alex-domina/8162512002/
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/08/18/loveland-police-shooting-alex-domina/
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/eddie-luzon-alex-domina-loveland-police-shooting/
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/alex-domina-loveland-police-shooting-body-camera-video-911-call/
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/alex-domina-death-loveland-police-shooting-knife/
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/alex-domina-death-loveland-police-shooting/
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/loveland-police-training-mental-crisis/
https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/loveland-police-release-body-cam-video-in-shooting-that-injured-intellectually-disabled-man
https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/man-19-shot-by-loveland-police-in-august-dies-of-his-injuries
https://www.cpr.org/2021/09/08/man-dies-after-being-shot-by-loveland-police-while-in-mental-health-crisis/
https://www.cpr.org/2021/09/10/no-charges-for-loveland-officer-who-shot-and-killed-19-year-old-while-in-mental-health-crisis/
https://coloradosun.com/2021/08/26/alex-domina-shooting-investigation/
https://www.westword.com/news/alex-domina-obituary-loveland-police-shooting-update-12304291/