Good Guy with a Gun #219: Commerce City, CO
The resident was “pretty beaten up — face, whole body.” But he was also armed. | Original incident: June 16, 2024
These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is significantly updated from the calendar version.
At 2:45 AM, Izak Daniels entered a home in Commerce City, Colorado.
We don’t know why, and we don’t know whether the resident or residents knew him. We do know that, according to Detective Sgt. Derek Aragon, the resident “was pretty beaten up — face, whole body. He had obvious injuries.” He also mentions that the resident initially claimed he was pistol-whipped, but that’s the only reference to Daniels having a gun across the sources.
Watching his expression as he talks through these words gives you a sense that he knows he’s understating the case. If Substack doesn’t honor the timing parameter in the link, skip forward to 47 seconds.
Fortunately, the resident was able to shoot the 36-year-old Daniels, who died from his injuries.
Despite his own injuries, the man was able to run down the block for help. He was hospitalized, but was expected to recover.
Detective Sgt. Aragon, when asked whether this incident fell under Colorado’s Stand Your Ground law, said, “As of right now, in the early stages, it is looking that way.”
Fox 31 legal analyst Christopher Decker said, “If it is an open and shut case of an armed homeowner shooting an intruder, they are probably not going to file charges against the homeowner, and beware to all burglars.” I can’t find any follow-up to the case suggesting that the resident was charged, so yes: Beware to all burglars.
Bonus DGU
While researching this incident, I found a comment on the Commerce City PD’s Facebook post. I can’t swear it’s true, because this is hearsay rather than a police report, but I’ll let Noelle Cho tell her story. This is verbatim, a straight-up copy and paste.
Good job on the homeowners part. I can say the one regret I have after going through a home invasion/robbery is that i didn’t shoot the intruders. And the only reason I didn’t was cuz at the time i had an 11-day-old baby, 2 year old and 3 year old and I was more focused on keeping us hidden than being found but they were one door knob turn away from being shot.
Oh and these idiots admitted in the court proceedings they saw the gun holster on the bed where i threw it (while rushing to gather my kids and hide them) and they looked through my bedding to try and find the gun to the empty gun holster. What idiot sees an EMPTY gun holster while they’re robbing a house and thinks, “hmmm there must be gun nearby” instead of realizing, oh shit empty gun holster equals there’s a gun nearby that someone is likely holding!
Okay, as it happened the incident must have been terrifying, and I would never want to belittle that. But I have to chuckle at the stupidity of the home invaders and the relish with which Ms. Cho tells her story.
Sources
Primary
The Commerce City PD’s Facebook post contains the details of the crime and Ms. Cho’s mini-story.
Local news
KDVR Fox 31 gave us coverage of the initial shooting and a follow-up discussing the possible self-defense angle. The follow-up contained the information from the legal analyst, Christopher Decker, as well as the interview with Detective Sergeant Derek Aragon. This is the same video linked above, and it’s embedded in the follow-up page.
KUSA 9 News also covered the story, albeit with less depth; however, they did provide the link to the Commerce City PD’s Facebook post, which I really appreciate. This video is also embedded in their follow-up page.
I didn’t see any of the usual 2A sources covering this incident.