[chris]

At about 3:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 9, 2026, Aurora 911 received a call from Aurora Mental Health about a man possibly experiencing a mental health crisis at an apartment complex near East Stanford Circle and East Tufts Drive in Aurora's South District.

Two patrol officers, a K9 unit, and members of Aurora's Crisis Response Team were sent to the address. While officers were still on the way, the man's mother told the Crisis Response Team by phone that her son had threatened to kill himself or wanted police officers to kill him.

Officers arrived starting at 3:31 p.m. The Crisis Response Team called the man at about 3:44 p.m., while other officers tried to talk to him through an apartment window. Officers reported that he had a large knife and was holding it to his throat.

At 3:53 p.m., the man stopped talking with officers at the window. Seconds later, he ran out of the apartment and charged a K9 handler and his dog with the knife. The K9 handler, Officer Mark Moore, was stabbed multiple times in the head, and K9 Cyrus was also stabbed.

While being stabbed, Moore fired multiple shots and struck the man. Other officers used less-lethal tools, including a Taser and a 40 mm launcher with foam projectiles.

Officers and medical responders gave first aid to Moore before he was taken to a hospital. He had multiple surgeries, has been released, and continues to recover. Cyrus was taken to a veterinarian for emergency surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.

The man was handcuffed after the shooting. An officer who had deployed his Taser unintentionally charged the device while trying to remove the cartridge and tased the man again. Officers and medical responders also gave life-saving aid to the man before he was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died shortly after arriving.

The man was 23-year-old Aurora resident Amari Garlington. Officer Moore joined the Aurora Police Department in November 2012 and was assigned to the K9 unit in March 2019. K9 Cyrus is a 9-year-old German Shepherd who has been with the department since 2019.