The Nov. 19 slaying of a man during a late-afternoon shootout in Denver’s trendy Lower Downtown neighborhood shares two similarities with other killings that helped drive the city to its highest number of murders in 15 years: young men and guns.
The year doesn’t end until midnight on Monday and already the number of murders in Denver is 11 more than all of last year, which ended with 56 killings.
So far in 2018, 67 people have lost their lives at the hands of others, a 9Wants to Know examination of Denver coroner, police and court records found.
“One of the things that disturbs me the most is the increase in gun usage among young people,” Denver District Attorney Beth McCann told 9NEWS. “It’s disturbing that there’s so much easy access to guns and that young people who don’t really have a fully formed brain are able to use guns.”
In tracking homicides through the year, 9Wants to Know found that:
- The 67 murders in the city this year are the most since 87 were recorded in 2004 – and above the average number of killings in Denver annually since 1985 of 59. That’s significant because during the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was common for there to be more than 80 murders a year.
- This year’s death count is more than twice the 31 murders that occurred in the city in 2014, which came at the end of a span of seven years in which the most killings was 41.
- The majority of the killings – 52, or 77 percent – involved guns. By comparison, deaths involving knives was next, something that happened in seven cases.
- Of those who died, one third – 22 of 67 – were 25 years old or younger, and nine were teenagers.
- In those cases where police have identified a suspect, nearly half were 25 years old or younger – and eight were teenagers.
INTERACTIVE MAP: 2018 homicides in Denver
Only eight of the recorded murders in Denver were women, including Denver’s oldest murder victim. Mary Smith was 88 when she died in May. The Denver coroner ruled her death a homicide saying her caretaker didn’t follow through with care.
The youngest murder victim was Jordan Vong. The boy was found dead inside a portable closet in his home after the 7-year-old had been reported missing by his mother. His 16-year-old aunt, Jennie Bunsom, is charged with his murder.
Denver police spokesman Doug Schepman said the department would soon undertake a comprehensive look at the city’s 2018 murders. Schepman issued a statement addressing the findings of the 9Wants to Know examination of killings in the city this year: “Any increase in crime, especially in violent crime, is concerning. One of our goals as a police department is to not just address the ‘what’ and ‘who’ of criminal activity, but to learn as much as possible about the ‘why’ so that we can enhance our prevention efforts. Our analysis of homicides and other crime data throughout the year has led to several new initiatives that the Department will announce in early 2019 with the goal of improving safety for our community.”
McCann told 9NEWS she wants to find a way to reach young people who have access to guns before it’s too late.
“I don't think what we've been doing has worked very well,” she said. “Typically, we have addressed these as, you know, this is a very serious incident and it’s more – probably a little more oriented toward punishment.”
To that end, she is working on programs with Denver police aimed at intervening in myriad ways. It could be counseling, an anger management class, help with school work – anything that might steer a teen-ager away from violence.
“What I’m interested in looking at is, can we use diversion with kids like this, so they actually get services or get intervention, get help with whatever’s going on in their lives that’s causing them to carry a gun,” McCann said.
Success would mean fewer instances of young men and guns shooting other young men.
“The most tragic thing that I see is going to the hospital and seeing a 13-, 14-year-old boy who’s been shot and maybe won’t live,” McCann said.
Contact 9NEWS reporter Kevin Vaughan with tips about this or any story: kevin.vaughan@9news.com or 303-871-1862.