Denver’s top prosecutor has ruled that two city police officers were justified when they fatally shot a man who advanced on them holding what looked like a large knife, but turned out to be a kitchen honing rod. District Attorney John Walsh delivered that decision in a Feb. 10 letter to Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas, closing his review of the Nov. 14, 2025, shooting in the 3200 block of South Parker Road. Officers fired a total of 11 rounds during the confrontation, and the man, later identified as 37-year-old Joseph Suddreth, died at a hospital.
Walsh wrote that Suddreth’s movements and the way he held the object made it reasonable for the officers to fear for their safety, and that “a delay to warn Suddreth and pause would have unduly placed Vasquez in greater danger,” according to the decision letter reported by the Denver Gazette. The DA concluded that Suddreth’s decision to move toward the officers with the object, instead of complying with commands or moving away, supported the finding that deadly force was reasonable under the circumstances.
Police had been dispatched just before 2 a.m. after a resident reported seeing someone rummaging in a shed on a patio, spotted through a doorbell camera, Denverite reported. Officers announced themselves and ordered the person to come out. The man initially raised his hands, then picked up a long object and began walking toward the officers, according to that account. Witnesses and investigators later said the object appeared similar to a large knife when Suddreth raised it above his head…