Denver DA Calls Police Shooting Involving Son And Elderly Father A “Great Tragedy”

Standing in the threshold of a south Denver home in February, Denver police officer Tom Weis faced a volatile and dangerous situation as he pleaded with a 52-year-old man who was pointing a gun at his elderly father’s head.

Weis was justified in shooting and killing Peter Le when he started a countdown and then leaned toward his father, indicating he was going to shoot, District Attorney Beth McCann wrote in a letter clearing Weis of criminal charges in the Feb. 13 police shooting shooting at a home in the 2200 block of South Clermont Street.

As Weis shot his .45-caliber pistol, Peter Le also fired his .40-caliber handgun at his father, 86-year-old Quyen Le. It was impossible to determine who fired first, McCann wrote in her letter, which was released Tuesday.

“Officer Weis was placed in an untenable situation,” McCann wrote. “Clearly, Quyen Le was in serious imminent danger of losing his life. Officer Weis was doing what he reasonably thought would prevent the death of Quyen Le by shooting at Peter. Tragically, for all involved, both Peter and Quyen Le lost their lives, a result that clearly was not the officer’s faulty.”

Weis was the first officer to arrive after police had been called to the Le home by another of Quyen Le’s sons. Peter Le had shown up drunk, armed with a pistol and a rifle and angry over a lawsuit filed by a sister-in-law, the McCann letter said. Peter Le had a blood alcohol level of 0.146, which is above the limit that is considered legally intoxicated.

During the confrontation, which was recorded by Weis’s body camera, the officer pleaded with Peter Le to drop the gun. Weis, who had been trained in crisis intervention, asked Peter Le more than two dozen times to drop his gun, McCann said.

But Peter Le told the officer that he wanted to be shot, saying “shoot me or I shoot him” and “he dies or else I die.” Peter Le also threatened to shoot the officer, the letter said.

Even after Peter Le had been shot, he begged officers to shoot him and blamed his father for forcing him to shoot, the letter said.

Peter Le later died at a hospital from gunshot wounds to the abdomen. Quyen Le died from gunshot wounds to the head, the letter said.

“This is a great tragedy on many levels,” McCann said.