Three recent, separate shootings in Denver’s Stapleton neighborhood, including one in which a man was killed, have residents on edge.
Police said Friday that none of the three incidents was a carjacking or attempted carjacking.
On Thursday night, 19-year-old Aaron Garcia was fatally shot in an incident that originated in a parking lot at the Wal-Mart at Smith Road and Quebec Street. A 21-year-old Denver man was arrested late Friday in that case.
Earlier in the week and just blocks away, two drivers, a man and a woman, were shot in separate incidents as they sat behind the wheels of their cars waiting at stoplights.
Police said the first two shootings are related and may have been part of gang initiations. Thursday’s shooting is unrelated, police said.
“Everybody is a little on edge,” said Stapleton resident Rob Johnson. “It makes people nervous.”
Johnson has lived in the upscale, newer neighborhood, east of Quebec Street and south of Interstate 70, for five years. Johnson’s family — he’s married and has two children — are original homeowners in this “sustainable” community, which mixes residential, office and retail space.
The 38-year-old businessman said he likes being close to shops, adding that his family frequents many area businesses.
The family doesn’t plan to make any drastic changes because of the shootings, but Johnson said he hopes police nab a suspect in short order.
“I know it’s a big city, so it can happen anywhere,” Johnson said, “but two and three carjackings like that, where someone was shot every time, that’s something different.”
Denver City Councilman Michael Hancock, who represents the Stapleton neighborhood, happened to be riding with police Thursday night when the fatal attack unfolded.
When police raced to the scene, Hancock was among the first responders.
“Obviously we are very concerned about what is happening right now,” Hancock said.
The first of the three recent shootings happened about 11:45 p.m. Oct. 26 near Martin Luther King and Central Park boulevards. A woman driving a minivan was shot by a man who approached her car on foot, police said. Seeking help, she drove to the Smith Road Wal-Mart — the same place where Thursday’s incident began.
The woman was treated at Denver Health Medical Center for her injuries and released.
About 7 p.m. Tuesday in the same area, a man was shot by a pedestrian as the driver waited at a stoplight. He drove to a local hospital, where he was treated.
Both victims described the shooting suspect as a white or Latino man in his late teens or early 20s, between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-10, with a red bandanna or scarf over his face.
In the first shooting, the suspect fled in a gold sport utility vehicle.
In Thursday’s shooting, Garcia’s body and the stolen vehicle, a Pontiac Grand Prix, were found a short time later a few blocks away.
Hancock said he’s confident, based on a “detailed” briefing from police, that the fatal shooting is not related to the two earlier incidents.
“There are more similarities between the first two,” he said. “I don’t see connections (with) the third one.”
Police are working “extremely hard” to solve all three incidents, Hancock said.
“Our goal it to keep residents safe in their own neighborhoods, no matter where they live in the city,” he said.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
