Bevy of fatal weekend shootings jolt Commerce City, Denver and Aurora

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DENVER | Four men were fatally shot and a woman was hospitalized with gunshot wounds during a spate of weekend violence in Commerce City, Aurora and Denver.

A person of interest in one of the cases was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot, police said Sunday.

Also, a person was fatally shot and three others were injured during a pair of altercations early Sunday in Aurora, officials said.

In Denver, one person was killed among a string of weekend shootings and stabbings, police said.

Commerce City Police Department spokesperson Joanna Small described it as “an incredibly violent weekend” for the fast-expanding community of about 70,000 people.

“We average maybe 5 or 6 homicides a year,” she said. “We’re now talking about four homicides and a person in critical condition in 39 hours … The fact that the crimes are not related is even more baffling, really.”

Potential motives in the shootings were not released.

The first happened Friday night in the parking lot of a Commerce City 7-Eleven convenience store. A man and a woman were shot, and the man later died. The woman remained hospitalized in critical condition as of Sunday morning, Small said.

Officers later tried to contact a man who had been driving a truck involved in the shooting, but he fled and was found dead as a result of suicide on Sunday morning.

On Saturday evening, a man was fatally shot in the parking lot of a public park with a pool in Commerce City. A person was taken into custody but Small declined to give further details.

Later that night, officers responded to shots fired during a gunfight that was detected by Commerce City’s gunshot monitoring system. The officers encountered a stolen vehicle with three people that fled and later crashed, according to the authorities. A male passenger with a gunshot wound was found dead inside the vehicle.

A second passenger and the driver were injured in the crash and taken into custody. Officers returning to the scene of the gunfight found a male who had been shot dead in the yard of a residence, Small said.

The victims and others in that case were believed to be juveniles, she said.

There was no known connection between the shootings at the convenience store, the park and in the residential neighborhood, Small said. She declined to give further details, citing pending investigations.

In Aurora, a dispute at an East Colfax Aurora nightclub parking lot turned deadly early Sunday when one person was fatally wounded and other person was injured, police said.

Officers were called to Las Adelitas Night Club, 11249 E. Colfax Ave., at about 1:45 a.m. after reports of a shooting.

“Officers located a gunshot victim in the parking lot,” police said. “Officers attempted life-saving actions, but the victim died at the scene.”

A short time later, police were notified that a second gunshot victim had “self-transported” toa nearby hospital “for treatment of multiple gunshot wounds.

“That victim, a 34-year-old man, is expected to survive,” Police said. “No arrests have been made and there is no suspect information at this time.”

No other details were released.

Also, one man was gravely injured by gunfire and another stabbed after an apartment parking lot party in northwest Aurora turned violent early Sunday, police said.

Police were called at about 1:30 a.m. to a large apartment complex at 13798 E. Fourth Ave. after reports of a shooting there. 

“Several people were gathered in the parking lot when there was an argument that became physical,” police said in a statement.  “One man sustained multiple gunshot wounds.”

The unidentified man was taken to a local hospital and sustained “life-threatening injuries” from the shooting, police said.

“A second man was stabbed during the altercation,” police reported. “He was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.”

Police said one person was detained, but they did not detail whether that person is a suspect in either of assaults.