Denver police shot a man who came at them with a gun, then found a homicide victim close by and arrested another man who they suspect in the death early this morning.
Two men are in custody after the incidents near 3436 West 18th Ave. at about 12:30 a.m., police said.
Arrested on suspicion of homicide is Filberto Alderete, 62, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said.
Colorado Bureau of Investigation records show Alderete has been arrested in the past for intoxication and disturbing the peace, and hit and run, a charge that was dismissed.
Alderete was last arrested in 1991 for carrying a concealed weapon and threatening someone with assault.
The man shot by an officer is at Denver Health Medical Center in stable condition. Police have so far not identified him or the dead man.
A woman, who identified herself as Rosemary Alderete and claimed to be the mother of the man who was shot, contacted 9News on Sunday. She said here son’s name is Daniel.
“My son is 25-years-old. What the nurse did actually tell me is that he was shot in the stomach, and he is not out of the woods,” the woman said. ” He’s in MICU, and I can go see him tomorrow.”
Cynthia Moses, 34, who lives next door to the porch where police found a dead man, sat on a shady piece of grass outside the yellow tape.
The wounded man’s name is Daniel, Moses said. “Daniel is a big Teddy bear,” she said. She said she did not know his last name and doesn’t believe he was armed. He lived with his grandfather, she added.
Moses she she had been on the street since shortly after the shooting broke out at about 12:30 a.m. “The cops threw us out,” said Moses.
Police were responding to reports of a fight in the area when neighbors told them there had been a shooting.
The officers were walking toward the porch at 3436 West 18th Avenue when a man came around a corner holding a gun, Jackson said.
Police told him to drop the weapon, but raised it instead, Jackson said.
Investigators recovered a handgun at the scene.
The man found on the porch was pronounced dead at the scene.
Moses said she heard a series of rapid pops that she thought were fire crackers and then a loud boom before police came to her door to questioned her.
She and her boyfriend saw the body of the dead man on the porch next door.
When police arrived they took her from the attached house and questioned her. “I was peeking out the door and they came up and grabbed me,” she said.
Other neighbors said there was a barbecue going on at the home before shooting broke out.
There was no formal party, however, said Jackson. “People were just out and about.”
Wooden lawn furniture and a barbecue grill sit on bare ground beside the house. The front lawn was dotted with numbered yellow evidence markers.
Tom McGhee: (303)954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
