Denver police opened fire into a crowd, injuring 6 bystanders, while going after a suspect who never fired a gun

Denver police shot six bystanders on Sunday while going after a suspect they claimed to have seen with a gun in a crowded area of the city’s downtown.

The Denver shooting can be classified as a mass shooting, as defined by the Gun Violence Archive, which describes the situation as a “minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter who may also have been killed or injured in the incident.”

At around 1:35 a.m. Sunday near Larimer street and 20th street, the suspect, 21-year-old Jordan Waddy had gotten into a fight outside of a bar, The Denver Post reported.

Police claimed in a press release that the suspect pointed a gun at them before three officers opened fire, injuring Waddy along with several bystanders.

A witness named Guillermo Cortes told The Denver Post that the suspect never brandished a gun and that the police did not give any warnings before firing.

Conversely, one unnamed officer said, “he was in fear for his life as Waddy was now armed with a firearm and pointed the firearm in their direction,” according to KDVR, an outlet that cited police documents.

The police department originally noted that five individuals “suffered non-life-threatening injuries,” but on Wednesday confirmed a sixth was also injured.

The incident was the third time the department police officers opened fire in the span of a week — fatally shooting individuals the Wednesday and Friday before.

The shootings add to mounting controversy regarding police use of force policies.