Moments before opening fire on a car full of teenagers Monday, two Denver police officers asked several times for those inside to get out after learning the car had been reported stolen, Police Chief Robert White said Wednesday.

"At some point, the original officer that responded to the scene, the vehicle started driving toward him, which pretty much had him between a car and a brick wall and a fence," White said in an interview with The Denver Post. "Out of fear for his safety, he fired several shots and the other officer also fired several shots."

White offered a few more details, which he described as preliminary, about Monday's fatal shooting of 17-year-old Jessica Hernandez in an alley in the Park Hill neighborhood. She was driving the car and died of multiple gunshots after officers opened fire. Hernandez and the other occupants of the car did not have weapons, White said.