Black Advocacy Group Asks Attorney General to Review Longmont Police Killing of Dariss Yearby

A Colorado-based Black advocacy group has asked Attorney General Phil Weiser to review the fatal shooting of Dariss Yearby by a Longmont police officer. Yearby, 20, was unarmed and suicidal when he was killed. The request was made on Thursday, October 29, 2026.

The Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership, which works to uplift Black voices and power, made the request one day after Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty cleared the officer, Joshua Barry, of criminal charges. According to a news release issued Thursday morning, the group contends that Dougherty's letter left critical questions unanswered. It added that if Weiser declines, Gov. Jared Polis should order him to conduct the review. Polis's office said Thursday afternoon that it is reviewing the request, according to spokesperson Ally Sullivan.

In a 17-page report analyzing the shooting and the district attorney's determination, the group focused on the moments before Barry fired. Two officers put away their guns and drew Tasers. "When multiple officers are responding to the same encounter, and officers with greater opportunity to observe the unfolding circumstances elect to pursue less-lethal intervention, their decisions become relevant evidence in evaluating the necessity, proportionality, and objective reasonableness of another officer's use of deadly force," the group wrote.

Dougherty's letter, released Wednesday, did not mention that one officer asked whether to try a Taser in the seconds before Yearby died. Body-worn camera footage reviewed by the Times-Call captures an officer asking, "Do you want to try a Taser?" Shannon Carbone, a spokesperson for the district attorney's office, said all of the officers believed Yearby could kill someone and did not know much about his motives until afterward. She said the two officers holstered their guns because they no longer had a clear shot, and that training requires an officer to say "Taser" when drawing one so others are aware.

Barry shot Yearby on Aug. 10 in a home on Bluebird Drive. Yearby had taken a woman hostage and repeatedly told police he had a gun, but officers found afterward that he was unarmed. Body-worn camera footage shows the first officer on scene knew Yearby was suicidal before entering. The district attorney's letter does not say whether Barry knew that before he ran into the house, told the three other officers, "If it's hostage, we've got to push," and fired, all within 28 seconds.

The group argues that Yearby's suicidal state did not justify his killing. "'Suicide by cop' is a dangerous narrative that risks absolving law enforcement of accountability," founder MiDian Shofner wrote in the release. The group also says the district attorney's decision should not end institutional review or public discussion, and that Longmont should examine its policies and training and whether Barry followed them.

The request echoes an earlier case. In 2020, Polis assigned Weiser as special prosecutor to investigate the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old unarmed Black man who died after Aurora police placed him in a neck hold and a paramedic injected him with an overdose of ketamine. Three police officers and two paramedics were indicted in 2021. An officer and the two paramedics were convicted in 2023, though an appeals court overturned the paramedics' convictions in June.

Yearby's family has also pressed for an independent city review. On Oct. 6, about 50 relatives and friends asked the Longmont City Council to seek a review of police training, use-of-force policies and responses to mental health crises. "Dariss was my oldest child, my first son, who showed me what love really was," his mother, Christine Ware, told the council.

City spokesperson Tracey Hewson said Longmont is reviewing whether anyone violated department policies, procedures and training directives, which is standard practice after a police shooting. The City Attorney's Office is considering the request for additional administrative review. The Attorney General's Office declined to comment, according to spokesperson Lawrence Pacheco.

"His family is entitled to an accurate account of the evidence, a clear explanation of the legal reasoning, and an institutional review that extends beyond the narrow question of criminal prosecution," the group's report says.