At least 50 people, including some of Denver’s most influential voices, joined a virtual meeting on Friday morning to discuss how to put an end to the crime wave recently hammering the city.

Denver City Councilman Chris Hinds called the invite-only meeting to address a growing community movement that is demanding action to end the violence, which seems relentless particularly in the last few weeks.

The impetus for Friday’s video call was last Saturday’s shooting, in which five people were shot, at 20^th and Market, a corner which has been a hotspot for gunfire. 

Friday’s Zoom meeting was packed with the city’s top brass, including Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas and two of his division heads, representatives from Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s office and District Attorney Beth McCann’s office, as well as three members of the Denver City Council.

Attendees also included representatives from the Lower Downtown Neighborhood Association, The Ballpark Collective Denver, Riot Hospitality Group, Monfort Companies, local businesses and several people who live downtown but are unaffiliated with any organization. 

Statistics from the police department’s District 6 for the month of August shows that violent crime in the Union Station neighborhood, which includes the Lower Downtown area, increased by 35%, while property crimes jumped by nearly 50% compared to a 28-day period in July.

Violent crime also rose in August for Five Points, North Capitol Hill and City Park West, the data shows. 

Some areas saw a decrease in violent crime for August. It was down by 34% in the Central Business District, which includes the Center for the Performing Arts, the Convention Center and Denver library. The Cheesman Park area saw a 34% decrease in violent crime, and it went down 27% in Capitol Hill.

A call for change

Hinds, the councilmember, was still adding people to the Zoom meeting invite list as late as Thursday afternoon in a response to the “ongoing friction” surrounding safety in LoDo. 

That evening, a letter sent by city residents and business owners described their fear over crime downtown. They called on councilmembers — Hinds of District 10, Councilmember Amanda Sandoval of District 1 and Councilmember Darrell Watson of District 9 — to step up and help out.

The letter, obtained by The Denver Gazette, stated: “Over the past few months, we have experienced shootings and assaults (some stemming from encampments) and have witnessed open-air drug markets operating with what appears to be free reign.”

The residents also expressed concerns that criminals have been emboldened and operating without fear of being caught and that worries over safety have become “a daily, if not hourly, concern.”

Hinds, who recently acquired part of the downtown area through redistricting, said that last Saturday’s shooting on the sidewalk outside of Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row at 20^th and Market streets was the first high-profile incident that occurred under his watch.

And it felt different to him than other violent incidents in the past year.

A different kind of attack?

Denver police alleged that Keanna Rosenburgh shot and injured five bystanders at 11:16 p.m. on Sept. 16 simply because she was refused entry to Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row due to a fake ID.  

“Someone whose ID was called into a question was the justification for the use of deadly force,” Hinds said. “That’s scary to me as a human being and as an elected official who represents 65,000 constituents.”

For Hinds, this particular incident also went sideways because it happened before midnight, compared to shootings that occurred hours later as the numerous bars in the area let people out.

For downtown residents and businesses, Saturday’s violence was the last straw.

With nationally-known events, such as the Great American Beer Festival going on this weekend at the Colorado Convention Center, they are bracing for more of the same — unless city leaders, public safety officials and the community can find a way to work together, they said. 

The residents’ letter offered several suggestions for the police and city council to pursue, including improved lighting and security measures, street closures, counseling support for victims of crime and, perhaps — most adamantly voiced — more police presence.

Denver Police Division Chief of Patrol Aaron Sanchez, who was on the video conference with Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas and District 6 Commander Kimberly Bowser, agreed that keeping cars off of the streets could deter some of the violence, since vehicles often provide gun storage for people until they need them.

To do that end, Sanchez advocated for parking meters in front of bars in hot spot areas to be bagged. He also wants to see food trucks and rideshare cars to be assigned specific locations to do business, which he believes would help to keep people from gathering in small areas.

But Sanchez disagreed that staffing more police officers downtown will  necessarily eradicate random shootings. He acknowledged that the police department is understaffed but insisted that it has “a good game plan, where several supervisors and their troops run in groups and are assigned to specific areas.”

He added that crime is not limited to LoDo and because of that, officers are assigned to fan out in all of Denver’s neighborhoods.  

On June 13, when 10 people were shot after the Denver Nuggets NBA title celebration, downtown Denver was fully staffed by law enforcement, Sanchez told The Denver Gazette.

“During the Nuggets incident, there were 100 cops within 100 feet of the guy who shot those people. There were several cops within feet of where the girl did the shooting (Saturday). Some of these things are societal issues. Who in their right mind shoots at a crowd with uniformed police standing around?” he said. 

Several sources told The Denver Gazette that the suspect in last Saturday’s shooting is under 18-years-old.

One of the businesses represented during Friday’s meeting was Riot Hospitality Group, which owns and operates Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row. RHG spokesperson Lissa Druss called on McCann to prosecute the alleged shooter to the full extent of the law. 

According to a Crime Stopper bulletin, Rosenburgh is being investigated for eight counts of criminal attempt to commit first degree murder. Five victims were injured, while three were in the line of fire but were not physically hurt.

All five wounded victims survived their injuries. One of the victims, Sanchez said, was shot in the leg and was saved by a quick-thinking off-duty Denver cop who applied a tourniquet. 

A front row seat to crime

Some people who live downtown who were on the video conference said that they routinely watch crime occur from their living room windows.

Still, nine years ago, when Ralph Cantafio bought his home at 1927 Market Street, he said he was not naïve to Denver’s burgeoning big-city growing pains.

“When you buy in the bar district, you know what you’re getting into. You’re not buying next to the Catholic Church,” the oil and gas attorney said.

But the intensity of the violence is starting to unwind him, he said. This summer during a nighttime dog walk near Coors Field, he was shocked to see two women assaulting a man in a parking lot, which “was like something out of Slap Shot.”

Friday’s meeting attendees hope it put the city on notice to ensure safety for residents and businesses. No one wants to sit back and wait for the next shooting, they said.

Sanchez, the police official, said that, although he did not agree with everything that was discussed, “it’s good to get all of the players to the table to talk.”

Cantafio believes it’s possible to upend the violence.

“I don’t like the situation,” he said. “But I truly look at this as an opportunity for beginning. I’m hopeful that once we work through this we will address other issues to make the neighborhood vibrant.”