Mother Calls Killing Of John Pacheaco Jr. By Glendale Police 'Like A Firing Squad'

GLENDALE, Colo. (CBS4) - Reflecting on her son's death last weekend, Jamie Fowler compared the police shooting to being "like a firing squad."

(credit: CBS)

"It was wrong, it was all wrong," said Jamie Fowler.

(credit: Elizabeth Mason)

Glendale police shot and killed John Pacheaco Jr., 36, late Saturday night on Colorado Boulevard, within Denver city limits. When police approached Pacheaco's vehicle, they said he was unresponsive but that he backed into an unmarked Glendale police car with an officer inside. Video of the incident shows numerous shots were fired into Pacheaco's vehicle.

Fowler told CBS4, "I don't want anybody else to go through this."

Elizabeth Mason, a friend of Pacheaco, said "He had troubles in his life, but was really really a good person." She said he had been in and out of rehab for substance abuse issues.

(credit: Pacheaco Family)

Records show Pacheaco had spent time in jail and had been arrested for drug charges and armed car theft.

Matthew Haltzman, an attorney representing Pacheaco's mother, said the family "is calling for transparency" and was asking that police body cam footage of the incident be released. "The investigating agencies not only have an obligation to Mr. Pacheaco's family but to the public to tell us what happened that evening and why police officers fired multiple ammunition rounds into Mr. Pacheaco's windshield, seemingly unprovoked."

The Denver Police Department is investigating the shooting.