Robert Gollick was aroused from his sleep by lights and noise at 3 a.m. Tuesday, beginning a bizarre chain of events that left a suspected burglar dead from unknown causes and Gollick’s next-door neighbor stabbed near Washington Park.
Two neighbors pinned down the prowler in an alley in the 600 block of South Vine Street, and the suspected burglar, who was struggling to breathe when police showed up, later died.
The cause of death has not yet been determined, said Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
Gollick didn’t see the altercation but heard the man moaning as police arrived, he said.
The prowler had been anything but subtle, Gollick said.
When Gollick looked out his window to see the man in his 30s checking for open doors, motion lights were shining and the man seemed to be making no effort to avoid being seen, Gollick said.
At one point, he stumbled over some garbage cans and created a racket.
“He wasn’t stealthy at all,” Gollick said. “It was completely weird.”
A newer model white pickup was seen at the end of the alley before trolling up it between the time Gollick called 911 and officers arrived.
The two neighbors who confronted the man have not been named by police.
The suspected burglar had a knife, and when the two men crawled off him, one of them had blood on his shirt from a cut inflicted during the struggle, Jackson said.
The man was taken to the hospital to be checked out, but his injuries were not life-threatening, Jackson said.
A man answering a knock at the door of a home listed on the police report Tuesday afternoon declined comment through the closed door.
Another neighbor, who declined to give her name, described the incident as “real scary.”
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Jackson said the stabbing victim was at a friend’s home when they heard noises outside.
The man went outside to investigate and found the apparent burglar, Jackson said.
Another neighbor came out of his home and helped hold the prowler there until police arrived a short time later.
The alley the assailant entered has tall, new fences and warning signs of security systems. The homes are a typical Washington Park mix of bungalows and newer scrape-offs.
“This is a city; burglaries happen anywhere and everywhere,” said neighbor Amy Goldfarb on Tuesday night. “I wish it didn’t happen so close, though.”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
