A woman wanted in connection with a shooting death Saturday night outside her West City Park apartment surrendered just after 8 p.m. Sunday at Denver police headquarters, said Detective John White, a police spokesman.
Lakesha M. Patterson, 30, fled the scene of the shooting at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday, according to an alert issued by police.
Her sister brought her to police headquarters and she surrendered, White said.
The calm Sunday in the 2200 block of Humboldt Street belied the flash of violence that erupted there Saturday night.
Patterson had reportedly emerged from her apartment at 2249 Humboldt St. at the sound of Tashee L. Griffin, 29, attempting to trash her car.
At least one shot was fired, White said. Griffin was wounded and attempted to flee but collapsed a short distance away. She was pronounced dead at Denver Health Medical Center.
When police arrived, Patterson was gone, White said.
On Sunday, the only evidence of the shooting was blood on a fence and in the backyard across the street.
Many residents of the block seemed more curious than knowledgeable about what happened.
The proprietor of the ice- cream parlor on the corner, who like most of the neighbors asked not to be identified, said his customers were talking about the shooting Sunday and seemed to think it was over a man.
The police weren’t talking about a motive, but Patterson’s next-door neighbor, Florence Wilson, sighed and said, “Somehow Kesha got mixed up in somebody else’s mess.”
Wilson, who said she and Patterson treated each other like mother and daughter, described Patterson as “a very nice young lady, a good mother, a hard worker.” She said Patterson has three children, boys 13 and 9 and a 10-year-old girl.
Wilson said she didn’t know Griffin, but she had seen her around the area.
Wilson said she was upstairs Saturday night with her children and grandchildren, watching a movie and playing cards.
“I thought I heard a ‘pop,’ but I didn’t realize it was a gunshot,” Wilson said. “I’m trying to figure it out, myself, what went wrong. I pray for her.”
Another neighbor said the women had been “feuding for some time. Last summer was the same thing.”
The dead woman also was the mother of several children, the neighbor said.
Staff writer Jim Kirksey can be reached at 303-820-1448 or jkirksey@denverpost.com.
