Denver Police officials updated the public on two recent police shootings in a news conference Friday afternoon.

Responding officers shot a a total of three people, killing one, in the two shootings, which took place on the Nov. 2 and Nov. 14.

One other person also sustained gunshot wounds in the Nov. 2 incident, though authorities do not know whether that injury was caused by a police bullet, said the DPD’s Major Crimes Division Commander Matt Clark at the conference, via a video posted to the department’s YouTube page.

Three of those wounded are teenagers, Clark said. None of them died. Authorities identified the man who died as 37-year-old Joseph Suddreth.

The Nov. 2 incident happened around 2 a.m. when police responded to the 5100 block of North Biscay Street in Green Valley Ranch to the call of a street fight involving nearly 50 people. As they arrived, officers saw people leaving the area. An hour later, they were called back to the scene for another report of fighting.

As police arrived the second time, they saw a teenage boy shooting a handgun. At one point, body-worn camera footage shows him pointing the gun toward police. One of the officers fired 14 shots at the teen as he ran past them. Police continued shooting in his direction; he was later found further down the street with a gunshot wound to his leg.

Two other teenagers also sustained gunshot wounds. Police were able to identify that at least one of those wounds was from an officer-fired round, but have not yet determined exactly when the teen was hit.

The shooting on Nov. 14 also took place around 2 a.m., this time in the 3200 block of South Parker Road. It was the second time in two weeks that police had shot someone in the area.

Police were first called to the scene by a resident of an apartment building who said that she could see someone breaking into a shed on her patio through a camera, Clark said. Two officers were dispatched to the scene; upon arrival, they saw someone moving around with a flashlight inside a shed-like structure on the patio of the caller’s ground-floor apartment.

The suspect, later identified as Suddreth, came out of the shed holding what the officers thought was a long metal knife; they ordered him to drop the object, Clark said. After momentarily placing it on a nearby retaining wall, the man picked it up again and began walking with it toward the officers.

The officers fired a combined 11 shots at Suddreth, many of which hit him, Clark said. He was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Investigators recovered a 12-inch-long honing rod with a wooden handle from the scene, Clark said.

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“I think that someone moving toward you with an object like that looks very much like a knife and could provide lethal results, I would expect the officer to defend himself in that situation,” said DPD Chief Ron Thomas at the conference.

Both officers joined the department in 2024, and one has been involved in a prior police shooting, Clark said. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.