Three Busts in Hinkley High Shooting, Weekend Violence Flares in Metro Denver Again

The summer-like weekend violence in the metro area that's extended into autumn has continued, with a fatal stabbing and a shooting late on Sunday, November 21, among the latest in the wave of crimes.

After a week that started with a shooting near one high school, the Aurora Police Department remained busy this past weekend dealing with another one. At around 12:03 p.m. on Friday, November 19, the city's 911 branch began receiving calls about gunfire at Hinkley High School, at 1250 Chambers Road. A school resource officer and an Aurora Public Schools security officer were already on campus, and they quickly located a teenage victim in the parking lot; two other victims turned up at a nearby hospital shortly thereafter. The victims were identified as two males, ages sixteen and seventeen, and a seventeen-year-old female.

Preliminary accounts reported that a fight in the high school parking lot during lunch hour had been followed by shots fired from a white pickup truck. The security officer fired in response before applying a tourniquet to one of the students felled in the exchange.

Just four days earlier, on November 15, another broad-daylight shooting had taken place at Nome Park, just steps away from Aurora Central High School; in that incident, six students were hurt. The episodes don't appear to be directly linked, but their similarities prompted Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson to hold a public event about youth violence on November 21. Her message: "Don't just talk about it, be about it."

No arrests have been made in connection with the Nome Park shooting, but Aurora detectives have had better luck related to the Hinkley High incident. On the evening of that shooting, one suspect was arrested after being contacted at a local hospital — and at 9:48 p.m. November 21, the APD confirmed that two more individuals had been apprehended that day in Aurora and Parker. All three are sixteen-year-old males who aren't being identified because of their age; they're being held on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder.

Meanwhile, Aurora officers were busy on another front yesterday. At around 12:45 a.m. on November 21, officers responded to a report of a family disturbance on the 4500 block of South Crystal Way; one victim was injured and another person detained.

And in the Mile High City? At 1:04 a.m. on Saturday, November 20, the Denver Police Department issued an alert about a stabbing investigation on the 800 block of Federal Boulevard, where an adult male had sustained serious injuries requiring hospitalization. At 9:10 p.m. that day, the DPD revealed another stabbing on the 4600 block of East 48th Avenue — and on November 21, the department confirmed that the adult male victim didn't survive his wounds. By 4:45 p.m. that afternoon, the DPD announced that a thus-far-unidentified man had been arrested for investigation of first-degree murder. The victim was a staffer at a shelter at that location.

Cut to 10:20 p.m. on November 21, when Denver police announced the investigation of a shooting in the 10700 block of East Dartmouth Avenue; the injuries suffered by the adult male victim didn't appear to be life-threatening.

And the autumn of violence goes on.

If you have information about any of these incidents, contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP (7867).