Two men were killed while trying to stop people from breaking into their vehicles in separate incidents over the last eight days in Denver, the police department said Thursday.
One man was shot and killed in the 15000 block of East Olmstead Place at 1:15 a.m. on June 24, and a second man was shot and killed in the 4300 block of Pecos Street just before midnight Tuesday.
Both men were vehicle owners who confronted people as they were breaking into or attempting to steal the men’s vehicles, Denver police said in a statement Thursday.
Investigators are not yet sure whether the two fatal shootings are connected and are still working to identify suspects, but police on Thursday warned Denver residents not to confront suspects during vehicle break-ins or attempted thefts. Residents should call 911 and wait for police, the news release said.
“We offer this warning, in no way to shame the victims for their attempts to protect their vehicles, but to bring awareness to this disturbing trend and to encourage everyone to call 911 if they see something suspicious or a crime in progress,” Chief Ron Thomas said in a statement. “The brazen actions of these suspects go against the fiber of our community, and our investigations teams are working to identify and arrest them.”
Spokespeople for the police department did not immediately return a request for additional information.
Residents confronting would-be car thieves has led to violence in the metro area on several occasions in recent years.
In 2023, a 35-year-old man tracked his stolen car in Denver, then shot and killed 12-year-old Elias Armstrong, who was in the driver’s seat of the vehicle. That man was not charged with a crime.
A man in Aurora was convicted of murder in 2025 after he chased down and shot two teenagers he suspected of trying to steal his wife’s car in 2023. He claimed the teenagers shot at him first, but police could find no evidence to support his claim.
A man in Aurora was killed in 2023 when he chased two people stealing scooters outside their home and the suspects opened fire on them. A 54-year-old man in Denver was slain when he followed his stolen vehicle in northeast Denver in 2021.
The two men slain over the last eight days in Denver comes as part of an increase in homicides so far this year when compared to this point in 2025, according to police records.
Eighteen people were killed in Denver in the first half of 2025, compared to 26 so far this year — numbers that remain lower than the recent highs when violence in Denver spoked in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, 35 people were killed by July 1 in Denver, and in 2023, 38 people had been slain by that point in the year.
