Rajon Belt-Stubblefield

People

Rajon Belt Stubblefield

On August 30, 2025, Rajon Belt-Stubblefield, a 37-year-old Black man, was shot and killed by an Aurora Police officer following a traffic stop that escalated into a fatal confrontation. The shooting occurred on the sixth anniversary of the death of Elijah McClain, another high-profile Aurora police brutality case. Belt-Stubblefield was pulled over for speeding but fled, crashing into two vehicles before coming to a stop at a Sinclair gas station near 6th Avenue and Billings Street. Body camera footage shows the officer approaching Belt-Stubblefield's vehicle with his gun drawn. Belt-Stubblefield exited his car saying "Don't shoot me," then tossed a handgun onto the sidewalk as he walked toward the officer. He repeatedly told bystanders to "get that," referring to the gun, while advancing toward the officer. The officer backed away approximately 50 feet down the sidewalk, repeatedly ordering Belt-Stubblefield to get on the ground and warning "I'll shoot you." The officer then fired three times, the final shot striking Belt-Stubblefield in the head. Belt-Stubblefield's 18-year-old son was in a car behind his father and witnessed the shooting, screaming "He just shot my dad. He had no gun." Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is representing the family, who called the shooting a "murder" and an "execution." The officer, identified by local activists as Matthew Neely, had been involved in 10 prior uses of force during his career with Aurora Police. Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain defended the shooting as necessary self-defense, but the family and critics noted that less-lethal options were available. The autopsy revealed Belt-Stubblefield had a blood alcohol content of .274 at the time of the incident. The case has renewed calls for police reform in Aurora, a department already under scrutiny following the Elijah McClain case and a state attorney general finding of "pattern and practice of racially biased policing."