Johnny Hurley was hailed by police as a hero for shooting and killing a gunman they say had killed one officer and expressed hatred for police in a Denver suburb. But when another officer rushed in to respond and saw Hurley holding the suspect鈥檚 AR-15, he shot Hurley, killing him, police revealed Friday.

Arvada Police Officer Gordon Beesley 鈥渨as targeted because he was wearing an Arvada police uniform and a badge,鈥� police Chief Link Strate said at a news conference.

Following the violent arrest of an elderly woman with dementia last summer, two former officers with the Loveland Police Department are now facing criminal charges.

In Loveland, after body camera footage showing the violent arrest of a woman with dementia came out last month, one area of focus is training standards.

How far has America come in enacting meaningful police reform since George Floyd鈥檚 murder nearly one year ago? That question faces renewed scrutiny with the rare verdict against ex-police officer Derek Chauvin. Nearly 1,000 miles from Minnesota, criminal justice experts say Colorado has set a bold example for the entire nation when it comes to impactful police reform.

A team of outside law enforcement agencies and city officials are launching separate investigations into the forceful arrest of a 73-year-old Loveland woman with dementia who left a store without paying for about $14 of items last year.

In dozens of Colorado communities, co-responder teams respond to emergency calls helping de-escalate, evaluate and connect people in crisis with services instead of jail time. Law enforcement leaders say these programs and indispensable and need to expand.

Like most of us, police want people to understand their perspective. And if they see a problem, they want to be part of the solution. Sometimes that involves leaving the force and looking at policing from the outside. In the final part of the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau's series, "Elevated Risk: Police Violence in the Mountain West," Madelyn Beck talked with some of those former officers to get their insights.

This is the fourth story in the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau series " Elevated Risk ," a project powered by America Amplified , a public radio initiative....

People of color are at high risk for police violence, and while data on Indigenous people specifically is difficult to come by, the numbers we do have are alarming. In Montana, Indigenous people are 60% more likely than white people to be killed by the police 鈥� and that's likely an undercount. For the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau's ongoing series Elevated Risk, Savannah Maher reports on one victim of that statistic.