Denver cop fatally shoots Brandon Cole as young child stands nearby

Horrifying bodycam video shows the moment a Denver cop fatally shot a man pretending to lunge at her with a knife — as a young child stands in the line of fire, just feet away.

The recently released footage shows officers repeatedly yelling at Brandon Cole, 36, as he pretends to have a weapon, which later turned out to be a black marker.

The deadly confrontation was watched by Cole’s wife and son, as well as an unconnected woman and child who walk right by the female officer pointing her weapon at the suspect and yelling at him to show his hands.

“Move! Move!” the officer yells at the adult and child — who appear to freeze as Cole runs by them.

Backing up, the officer opens fire as Cole lunges at her after being tased — with the child seen standing directly behind him when his body falls to the ground.

The woman and child — both unharmed — remain frozen looking at Cole lying with blood splattered on the ground as the officer radios in, “Shots fired.”

Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said his officer — who has not been identified — had no choice but to fire and likely didn’t see the adult and child standing behind him, the Denver Post reports.

“You can see in the video that when she finally deploys her duty weapon, the person is so close to her that the view of the young child and other person are not even clear to her,” Thomas said.

“Certainly that was a consideration, but there was not much time to act before she was overrun by that individual.”

The tense bodycam footage opens with the moment two officers arrived at the 2300 block of West Cedar Avenue at 7:56 p.m. Aug. 5 following a call about domestic violence against Cole.

Cole’s wife, who can be seen out of her wheelchair and sitting on the curb next to her son, immediately asks the officers not to point a gun at her husband, with the female cop asking if she needs medical assistance.

Interrupting their conversation, Cole walks out of his car, slams the door, and begins to take an “aggressive stance” while taunting the two officers, who warn him to stay put as his wife yells at him, police said.

“Pull it out! Let’s go,” Cole shouts at the officers while appearing to grab something from his back pocket. “F–k that.”

Both his wife and the officers yell at him to stand down, with the female officer pleading: “Hey, Brandon! Look at me! Stop!”

It is then that the other adult and child pop into frame. Cole lunges at them before the cops shoot him with a stun gun, with the female officer again urging him to stop.

Cole appears to ignore the Taser and runs straight at her with an item in his hand, with the officer yelling “Don’t!” one more time before shooting, with the adult and child just a few steps behind him.

The video ends with Cole’s wife screaming in the background as the officer, who has yet to be publicly identified, calls in the shooting.

Although the officers at the scene radioed that they believed Cole had a knife, police found that he was actually holding a black marker that he wielded “in a threatening manner.”

The shooting is being investigated by the Denver District Attorney’s Office, which will determine if the officer, a member of the force since 2019, acted legally when she fired at Cole.

Thomas added that police are still investigating the domestic violence call made against Cole, which came when a person alleged that Cole pushed his wife out of her wheelchair and was “going after” his son before officers arrived.

The chief noted that Cole’s wife had declined to give a statement to police.

With Post wires