When Eric Lee Miller told his mother that he was going to a Halloween party with his fiancé on Friday, Oct. 13, she had a bad feeling.

“You know I don’t like for you to go to those things,” Janelle Miller said to her adult son. He dismissed her worries and told her that he loved her. It was the last time the two, who talked on the phone every day, would speak to one another.

Miller, a father of three boys who are five and younger, was later shot and killed at the party — one of three victims killed in a mass shooting at an industrial complex at 12445 E. 39th Ave. just after midnight on Oct. 14.

“He was a good dad. He loved his boys,” Miller said. “We don’t know how the family is going to make it through this.”

Denver police responded to the shooting around 1:30 a.m. Six people were shot and five self-transported to a nearby hospital, UCHealth at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, which is about a 10-minute drive from the crime scene. Responders found one man dead at the party location.

Miller, 25, Tre’Joun Walker, 22, and Tyreck Cameron, 22, died from gunshot wounds following the incident, according to a Thursday press release from the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.

Witnesses commenting on the social media platform Reddit reported hearing five to six shots during the Halloween party at the industrial complex and that “people were screaming and running for their lives.”

Miller said that her son did not carry a gun and that “he was an innocent bystander.” Eric Miller had worked the overnight shift at Denver International Airport as a team leader for a janitorial service.

Miller’s fiancé, Seina Fifita, said in a Facebook post that he had nothing to do with the gunfire. She said the children were waiting for their “superhero” to walk through the door.

“My child cooked me dinner that night,” Shalenia Walker, mother of Tre’Joun Walker, told The Denver Gazette’s news partner, 9News. “Nobody knows how it feels when a child cooks you dinner and can’t come home to eat it with you.”

“I just want justice. Anyone can come forward,” Walker said, imploring someone reveal information about the incident. “You’re not a sissy or a punk for doing it.”

According to the Denver Police Department, several dozen people were at the late-night party.

An altercation started inside when one victim and the alleged shooter got into an argument, Miller said. When shots rang, everyone ran for cover. Her son was hit in the chest, stumbled outside and collapsed into a bush, she said.

Fifita attempted to call 911 but said she was met with an automated message that put her in line for a call back. Afraid that Miller was losing too much blood, Fifita and two friends put him in the front seat of his Dodge Challenger and headed for UCHealth in Aurora. The friends encircled him with their arms from the back seat trying to stop the bleeding.

Fifita received the 911 call back, she said, as her car was driving up to the hospital’s emergency room.

Miller said she was told that, when the friends pulled up to the hospital and shouted for a gurney, they were handcuffed and put into a security car. No one responded to Fifita and Miller for three minutes, Fifita said.

An Aurora Police Department spokesperson said reports from the events that night don’t show that anyone was handcuffed. Denver police officers were also at the hospital, but declined requests for more information about the shooting or the subsequent investigation.

A University of Colorado Hospital spokesperson said federal privacy laws prevents them from commenting specifically on the events that played out in its emergency room on Oct. 14.

“UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital received six patients from a shooting that occurred over the weekend in Denver,” the hospital stated in an email. “Due to federal privacy laws, UCHealth is unable to share patient information. However, our patient advocacy team is available to work with patients or family members to address any concerns.”

The hospital appeared to be on extreme alert, according to Miller.

“They locked down the facility. Aurora PD had their SWAT team there with AK 47s out,” she said. “It was chaos at its finest.”

The Denver Department of Public Safety told The Denver Gazette that the average response times for 911 around the time of the shooting was 16 seconds. There was an influx of calls around the shooting, but inquiries were still being answered.

“The caller likely heard a brief hold message and hung up before a call taker could answer,” Kelly Jacobs, director of communications at the Denver Department of Public Safety, said. “It is not uncommon for callers to hear a hold message when there is a rapid influx of calls due to a large incident like a shooting, and it is important that individuals stay on the line to be connected to a call taker.”

Families mourn

“They took a piece of me,” Walker told 9News.

“He’s always been a good kid. Never got in trouble in school. Nothing. He was a jokester,” Miller said of her son.

Miller had a family photo scheduled with her son in November. It would be their first formal photo in over 10 years, and now this, she said.

“When it rains, it pours, I tell ya,” she added.

Miller recently started a GoFundMe to raise funeral funds. Eric Miller will have two services — one in Denver and one in Oklahoma, where he will be buried.

The Denver Police Department has yet to arrest any suspects in the shooting. They said Friday there were no updates to share.

The Denver Gazette’s news partner, 9News, contributed to this story