Residents in a Five Points neighborhood are rattled after a .
Travis Kimbrough-Sanders, 34, and Sergio Evelynmoe, 28, were shot to death Tuesday afternoon at a gas station and carwash on 35th Street and Downing Street, according to a news release by Denver’s medical examiner.
Their deaths were ruled homicides. Police said they are investigating whether the shootings were gang-related.
Deanna Simpson and her family live about a block away from the Conoco gas station.
“We understand the systematic causes of urban violence,” she said, adding that she believed gentrification was a large contributor to violence in Five Points. “I’ve always pictured it to go down in dark-lit corners in the middle of the night, but now it’s happening in the middle of the day when school has just let out. That’s crazy.”
She and her fiance were lying in bed watching a movie around 3 p.m. Tuesday when they heard the shots.
“We thought we were listening to firecrackers because the shots came in such rapid succession,” Simpson said.
Simpson and her family have lived in the area for more than a year. She said she hasn’t been worried about violence in the neighborhood until now.
“It’s really easy to imagine someone getting caught up in the crossfire of that drama or my 8-year-old daughter having to see someone bleeding out in the middle of the day,” she said.
Evelynmoe and Kimbrough-Sanders were pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital. The teen, whose identity has not been released, is expected to survive his wounds, police said in a news release.
Police said Wednesday they are looking into what led to the shooting.
“I know there are still people out there who are involved that we want to talk to,” said police spokesman Doug Schepman.
One person of interest is the driver of the private vehicle who took Evelynmoe to the hospital, Schepman said. The other two victims were transported to a hospital via ambulance.
Mark Ungar, public safety chairman for the Whittier Neighborhood Association, said the community should take a “multi-prong approach” to violence.
“We need the police, the residents, outreach programs, schools and everyone in the community to come together,” Ungar said. “We need to give the children in the neighborhood options other than entering into a life of gangs or violence.”
Elizabeth Hernandez: 303-954-1223, ehernandez @denverpost.com or twitter.com/ ehernandez
