AURORA — Two men were shot dead Thursday inside an apartment where they apparently planned to rob a man and a woman they thought to be marijuana growers, police said.
The couple were both critically wounded. Their child, a toddler, escaped the gunfire.
No names were released, and investigators were “actively investigating” the status of the couple’s medical-marijuana licensing, said Aurora police Sgt. Cassidee Carlson.
Aurora bans medical-marijuana grow operations except for small-scale caregivers or for personal medical use.
All of the adults appeared to be in their early to mid-20s, Carlson said.
The couple were in critical condition as each underwent surgery Thursday evening, while the toddler was being cared for by relatives.
“The child was still inside the home when we arrived,” Carlson said.
Police were called at about 2:50 p.m. by numerous neighbors as a barrage of gunfire erupted in the Sable Cove Condominiums near South Sable Boulevard and East Mississippi Avenue, southeast of the Town Center at Aurora mall.
Carlson said it was too early to determine how the four people were shot. She said officers were waiting for a search warrant and that the two men’s bodies were still in the apartment.
Carlson said investigators did not think anyone left the apartment after the shooting.
“The public does not need to be concerned,” she said. “All the people involved in the incident have been accounted for.”
Neighbors said they were shocked by the extreme violence in broad daylight but not surprised by gunfire in their neighborhood.
“It’s really getting bad over here,” said Sharona Lindley, 23, who has lived nearby on East Tennessee Drive for three years. “There is gunfire at night all the time. I guess it’s bad everywhere, but we seem to get more of our share over here.”
She and other residents recalled a handful of relatively recent shootings, including a man who was shot to death in a parking lot in September.
“I get mad at all these punks who don’t respect the fact there’s children,” said Sable Cove resident Tammy Wells, 45.
“There are kids everywhere out there, and there’s a day care right next door,” she said, motioning to the Children’s Academy & Childcare, which was briefly on lockdown Thursday afternoon.
Aurora has a violent-crime rating only slightly higher than the state average for its population. Aurora has about 326,000 residents and had 22 murders and a total of 1,524 violent incidents in 2009, according to statistics kept by the FBI.
Denver has just fewer than 605,000 residents and had 39 murders and 3,493 violent crimes that year. Colorado Springs had 401,000 residents, 15 murders and 1,968 violent crimes in 2009, according to the FBI.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
