Police share details on back-to-back downtown Denver shootings

DENVER (KDVR) — While officers with the Denver Police Department were providing aid to a man an officer shot on Aug. 3, police say more shots were fired from a separate group of people nearby. On Friday, police revealed details of the investigations in a press conference.

Around 2 a.m. on Aug. 3, police were doing their routine weekend patrol near 19th and Market streets. Denver Police Commander Matt Clark with the major crimes division said officers just finished addressing a fight near 20th and Blake streets when an officer heard a gunshot possibly coming from Market Street.

Officers responded to the area in the 1800 block of Market Street where a passerby told an officer that a man standing next to a white Audi had a gun. Clark said police then approached the man and ordered him to show his hands, which were behind the car door where officers could not see.

Police: Officer fires single shot at man holding gun

When he raised his hands, police say he was holding a firearm by the lower grip area in his right hand. At that point, the barrel was pointed toward the ground, and police ordered him to drop the gun multiple times.

“The subject turned the firearm in such a way that the barrel was parallel to the ground, and he moved the firearm to his left across his body and in doing so pointed the barrel of the firearm directly at the uniformed officers. Fearing the individual was going to shoot at the officers, one officer fired one round from his duty handgun,” Clark said.

The man was struck on the arm and dropped the gun, and he was taken into custody. The police department said officers immediately rendered aid, applying a tourniquet before he was taken to a hospital in an ambulance.

Detectives recovered a black Glock 17 9mm semi-automatic handgun with a magazine that had 10 rounds of ammunition, according to Clark. Police are not releasing the 24-year-old man’s identity as he has not been charged with anything and there is no evidence at this time that the weapon was fired before police arrived.

The officer who fired his weapon has been with the department since 2017 and will be on a modified duty status while he completes the department’s reintegration program. The incident is being investigated by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Colorado State Patrol, the police department’s homicide unit and the Denver District Attorney’s Office.

Separate shooting breaks out in same parking lot

“Almost immediately after the police shooting incident another series of gunshots can be heard behind the officers in the same parking lot,” Clark said.

Police said multiple firearms were discharged in an apparent exchange of gunfire separate from the initial incident.

A vehicle that left the scene of the second shooting crashed into a parked car near Lawrence and Downing streets. When officers arrived there, they found two people injured, one with a gunshot wound to the abdomen and the other hurt in the crash. Both are expected to survive.

Detectives believe they have identified the people involved but no one has been arrested or charged, as officers are still trying to understand their role in the incident.

Crime going down in ‘persistently violent hot spot’

Police Chief Ron Thomas said the area is a “persistently violent hot spot,” but increased patrols of the area, visible officers on corners, improved lighting and crowd dispersion efforts have helped bring crime down.

“What we have seen is a significant reduction of violence in the area due, I think, to some of our mitigation efforts. So we’re seeing not just reductions in violent crime throughout the city but particularly in District 6 and the lower downtown area,” Thomas said.

FOX31’s Alliyah Sims spoke with the manager of Hopdoddy Burger Bar , who said crime in the area is taking a toll on business.

“When you’re trying to run a business, it’s obviously not good to customers that want to feel safe in their establishments,” Hopdoddy general manager Philip Croft said. “It’s hard to retain employees. They’re worried about leaving work and worried about if they are going to get to their car safe.”

The investigations into both incidents are ongoing and police ask anyone with information to contact the Denver Police Department or Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.

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