(COLORADO SPRINGS) — Two Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) officers’ use of force in a February 2025 shooting was ruled justified by a multi-agency Deadly Force Investigation Team.

According to the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office (DA’s Office), on Feb. 15 just before 5 p.m., officers were called to the 3100 block of Illinois Avenue, just north of East Fillmore Street, on a call for service from a woman who reported her adult son, later identified as Derrick Wardle, was engaged in an argument with her adult grandson and that a firearm was involved.

The woman also reported that Wardle had been showing signs of paranoia, had made comments about shooting police officers, and had access to other weapons.

The woman and her grandson were able to leave the home, but the woman’s husband chose to stay inside. At around 5:30 p.m., four CSPD officers, including Officer Brock Lofgren and Officer Benjamin Johnson, formed a Crisis Entry Team–a response strategy used by the department when suspects display behavior that creates a risk of imminent danger to innocent civilians, according to the DA’s Office.

The team approached the back door of the home at 5:35 p.m. Wardle opened the back door, holding a rifle at his side. He said “hello,” but stayed out of clear view of officers.

Officer Lofgren announced himself as the police and ordered Wardle to come outside. Wardle refused and asked the officers to enter the home. Officer Lofgren moved closer to the door and saw that Wardle and his father were in the room.

Officer Lofgren ordered Wardle to drop the weapon, but Wardle refused, then he began to raise his rifle at officers. According to a post-shooting interview, Officer Lofgren determined that he was close enough to “almost grab the end of the barrel” of the rifle and was too close that less-lethal force would be ineffective at stopping the imminent threat against him, other officers, and Wardle’s father.

Officer Johnson moved closer so he could see inside the house and saw Wardle “looking right at us” with a “pretty sizeable rifle.”

Officer Lofgren continued to give verbal commands to drop the weapon when Wardle quickly raised the weapon at officers. Officers Lofgren and Johnson fired their weapons at Wardle, stopping him.

Once they confirmed the threat had been neutralized, officers started to render medical assistance until paramedics arrived. Despite life-saving measures by both paramedics and CSPD officers, Wardle died at the scene.

According to analysis by the DA’s Office, both officers had a reasonable belief of imminent danger and that less-lethal options were not practical or possible.

The DA’s office has ruled the shooting justified.