The man who a Longmont officer fatally shot Monday was not armed, and the woman whom he reportedly took hostage told police he didn’t have a gun, Longmont police announced Thursday.
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The man, identified as 20-year-old Dariss Yearby, was accused of assaulting the same woman in 2025, then contacting her in violation of a protection order this year, the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office announced earlier Thursday. Yearby was out of custody after posting bail in June.
The woman’s mother called police around 2:27 p.m. from outside of Longmont and said her 18-year-old daughter was in their home with Yearby, who had previously threatened to kill the 18-year-old, according to a Longmont police release. The woman’s mother told police her daughter had a restraining order against Yearby and that the two were upstairs and the man was threatening to kill her daughter.
When three officers responded to the home around 2:35 p.m., they called for Yearby and the woman to come out, but got no response. They entered the home and found Yearby standing behind the woman with his left arm around her neck and his right hand, hidden by a large handbag, pointed toward her neck. Yearby told the officers multiple times that he had a gun, but the woman told officers Yearby didn’t have a gun and that “he just wants you to kill him.”
A fourth officer arrived on scene and told Yearby to drop the gun, or the officer would shoot him. Yearby continued to say he had a gun and the officer continued to tell him to drop the gun “for several seconds,” the Longmont police release said. The officer then shot Yearby, and the woman ran out of the room. Officers began rendering medical aid to Yearby, who was then taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
No guns were found in the room where the officer shot Yearby, according to the release.
No officers were injured in the incident, according to Lindsay Diamond, a city spokesperson. The officer who fired his weapon was placed on paid administrative leave while the Boulder County Critical Investigation Team investigates the shooting.
Longmont police plan to release video and audio footage related to the incident, according to the release.
Yearby was facing assault and attempted second-degree murder charges after the woman told police he had assaulted and strangled her about 15 times over the course of an hour in February 2025, according to the DA’s Office release.
The woman told police she lost consciousness at least twice during that assault, and that Yearby prevented her from escaping. Medical staff documented bruising on the woman’s neck and said her injuries indicated a “substantial risk of death or long-term impairment,” according to the release.
Yearby was arrested in April 2025 and released the next day on a $20,000 personal recognizance bond on the condition he would participate in monitoring programs and wouldn’t contact the woman, take drugs or alcohol, or have weapons, according to the release. The DA’s Office had requested a $100,000 cash or surety bond, citing the lethality risk and seriousness of the case, the release states.
A personal recognizance bond relies on a defendant’s promise to appear in court, and does not involve using money or property as collateral.
Bonds set in cases involving attempted second-degree murder and other similar charges over the last five years typically ranged from $10,000 to $100,000 cash or surety bonds, according to a review of state court data by the Times-Call.
The U.S. Marshals arrested Yearby on May 27 in Denver after the DA’s Office learned a few days earlier that he had violated a protection order and contacted the woman. The DA’s Office again asked for a $100,000 cash or surety bond, and a judge set a $20,000 cash or surety bond with no cash-only option. Yearby posted that bail on June 10.
A surety bond is posted through a state-licensed bondsman, who might require a co-signer or collateral to secure the bond.
When asked how he felt about Yearby’s bond being set lower than the DA’s Office asked, District Attorney Michael Dougherty said he wouldn’t speak publicly, worrying about wading into cases involving police shootings.
“Oh, I have a reaction,” Dougherty said in an interview in his office Thursday. “I’m going to be somewhat constrained in what I say publicly until the investigation’s concluded.”
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