Courtesy of 9News
Audio By Carbonatix
Violence that flared over the weekend in metro Denver didn’t end at midnight on Sunday, as evidenced by a stabbing reported during the early hours of Monday, October 17. Meanwhile, authorities in the northern suburbs are investigating two shooting incidents, one of which left seven attendees of a house party wounded and a teenager dead.
The first Denver Police Department report of weekend violence came on its Twitter account at 8:02 a.m. on Friday, October 14, when officers were investigating a shooting on the 5400 block of North Tulsa Way, in the Montbello neighborhood. One victim was transported to an area hospital with unspecified injuries.
At 8:59 p.m. on October 15, the DPD alerted residents of another shooting, this one on the 2200 block of West 46th Avenue in the Sunnyside neighborhood. The bulletin identified the victim as an adult male who was hospitalized with wounds characterized as “unknown.”
Hours later, at 2:34 a.m. on October 16, officers were on the scene of a shooting on the 900 block of South Wolff Street, in the Villa Park neighborhood. Two adult males were said to have suffered injuries not considered life-threatening.
Finally, at 4:33 a.m. today, October 17, the DPD reported a stabbing near the intersection of South Federal Boulevard and West Colorado Avenue; no specifics have been released about the victim’s injuries.
The heavier action was up north. On October 14, the Westminster Police Department issued a news release about what it shorthanded as an “attempted motor-vehicle theft/felony menacing/police pursuit” that had gotten underway at 6:13 p.m., when law enforcement officials were called to the 9100 block of Wadsworth Parkway regarding an auto theft in progress. A witness said that after confronting three suspects, two of them had brandished handguns before fleeing in the stolen vehicle. The cops located the car, with a second vehicle trailing it, near 92nd Avenue and Pierce Street. An ensuing chase that followed a failed attempt at a traffic stop ended when the stolen vehicle wiped out in the vicinity of 92nd and Eaton Street.
During the crash, according to the WPD, “a gun in the vehicle was discharged, hitting the driver and sole occupant of the vehicle, in what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.” (No police officers fired a weapon, the department notes.) The driver, identified as a juvenile male, was hospitalized; his condition hasn’t been updated. The second vehicle, which also turned out to be stolen, was later found in Denver.
The Twitter page for the Adams County Sheriff’s Office was busy as well, with multiple tweets on the morning of October 15 sketching out what took place in the area of 900 Dakin Street. Around 3 a.m., the ACSO had received reports of a shooting at a house party; upon their arrival, deputies discovered multiple victims. The office ultimately determined that eight people had been shot, one of them fatally. The individual who died has not yet been formally identified but was reportedly a senior at North High School.
In the wake of the shooting, the agency released a blurry image of a suspect vehicle, blue in color:
Adams County Sheriff’s Office
The sheriff’s office tweeted that it is collaborating with the 17th Judicial District DA’s Office in a probe of the incident, but emphasized that information would be limited “due to the sensitivity of the case, the amount of info we continue to receive and protecting the victims.” Prosecutors are looking into the possibility that the shooting was gang-related.
Those with information about these offenses can contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP (7867).
