Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty announced on Wednesday that a Longmont police officer will not be charged in the August shooting death of an unarmed man who was holding a woman hostage and wanted to die by suicide.

In a decision letter addressed to Police Chief David Moore, Dougherty said officer Joshua Barry will face no criminal charges in the death of Dariss Yearby, 20. According to a news release from the District Attorney's Office, Yearby had told the 18-year-old woman he held hostage that he would try to use officers to end his life if he ever faced jail again.

Yearby was killed on Aug. 10 inside a home on Bluebird Drive. He had taken the woman hostage and repeatedly told police he had a gun. The woman's mother first called police around 2:27 p.m., saying Yearby had strangled her daughter and was threatening to kill her, according to body-worn camera footage and 911 audio the city released Sept. 3.

Dougherty concluded that Barry acted as any reasonable officer would. The letter says the officer believed either the young woman or the officers faced deadly danger, and that he used lethal force in line with state law. Barry told investigators he had "to take what he's saying as one hundred percent the truth" given Yearby's words and actions. He had completed hostage rescue training one week before the shooting. Every officer interviewed believed Yearby was armed and feared for the woman's life and their own.

The letter leaves out some details, however. It does not say whether Barry knew Yearby was suicidal when he fired, and it does not mention that another officer asked whether they should try a Taser first. It does say that officer Shane Mathis holstered his firearm and drew his Taser after officers blocked his clear shot. "Officer Mathis said he drew his Taser to his chest and armed it, and as he looked up the gunshot happened," the letter reads. Another officer had also armed a Taser.

Body-camera footage shows the first officer at the scene already knew Yearby was suicidal, 10 minutes before Barry entered the home. The letter does not say whether Barry had that information before he ran inside, told the three other officers, "If it's hostage, we've got to push," and shot Yearby, all within 28 seconds.

The letter does add detail about Yearby's intentions. The woman told investigators that Yearby was her boyfriend of two years and was staying at her home for at least two days while her mother was away. She said he often spoke of dying by suicide, saying a protection order barred him from seeing her. He told her he would rather die than return to jail and talked about getting police to shoot him. His phone held a draft note to his mother saying he planned to end his life.

The woman said Yearby tried to kill himself about 10 minutes before police arrived. When officers came, he told her he would "hold her like a hostage so police would shoot him and kill him," according to the letter. She said she had not meant to call her mother that day, and her mother contacted police because of what she overheard on the accidental call.

Court data shows Yearby was accused of assaulting the same woman in February 2025 and was arrested in April 2025 on an attempted murder charge. He was released on a bail that required no money to be posted, which is atypical for that charge. He was arrested again in May for violating an order barring contact with her, and was again released on bail set lower than what the District Attorney's Office had requested.

A Longmont spokesperson had not responded by about 4:30 p.m. to a request for comment, including whether the police department will take administrative action against Barry. Yearby's mother did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent through social media.