Family of Pueblo man killed by police officers shown body camera footage of the shooting

PUEBLO, Colo.- After months of waiting, the family of the man shot and killed by Pueblo Police was able to see an edited version of the body camera footage worn by officers the night Estevon Cruz was killed.

Back in December, the Cruz family demanded to see the body camera footage. Now, they say they have more questions than answers. Their attorney Joe Konsilja spoke to KRDO minutes after he, Estevon's father, and grandfather watched the footage.

Konsilja says the purpose of police showing them the video was to prove Cruz was holding an airsoft pistol and fired it at the responding officers the night he was killed. However, Konsilja says that's not what they saw.

"We could not really verify what they indicated to us that they were going to show us,” Konsilja says. Instead, the attorney compared the footage to something you would expect to see in a warzone, saying officers told them Cruz was shot more than 30 times all within a time frame of five seconds.

“I think all of us are left in shock at how quickly it happened," Konsilja says, "The amount of force that was used was unbelievable.”

We are told Pueblo Chief of Police, attorneys with the city, and members of the police union were also in the room as the Cruz family watched the video.

Konsilja estimates the body camera footage was about eight minutes long in total, giving the perspective of the four officers that were involved. He says that the time frame from when those officers entered the home to when the shots finished firing was about two minutes.

Steve Cruz, Estevon's grandfather, spoke briefly Friday about the video, still trying to comprehend how this happened. He says seeing the death of his grandson is something he wishes no one has to go through.

"The police process of it, it's just unbelievable for me and to see my grandson there, it's just heartbreaking," Cruz says.

We reached out to the Pueblo Police Department for comment but the spokesperson says they didn't feel it appropriate to speak at this time but wanted to be transparent with the family by showing them the body camera footage.