One person died and eight others were injured in a mass shooting at a southeast Denver nightclub early Monday in a corner of the city that has seen a sharp increase in gun violence during the last several months.
The shooting outside the Ultra Lounge East nightclub just after midnight sent patrons running for cover, with some hiding in a closet and under cars to escape the bullets. The nightclub at 9755 E. Hampden Ave. sits along a roughly 1.5-mile stretch of road in Denver that has seen at least five homicides and 11 people shot during the last seven months, according to police data.
The gunfire at Ultra Lounge East appeared to involve at least two shooters and followed a confrontation between two groups at an event billed as a community water fight in Aurora earlier on Sunday, Denver police said. That earlier dispute reignited at an afterparty hosted at the lounge, Chief Ron Thomas said .
Denver officers were already responding to a call for a disturbance in the lounge’s parking lot when shots were fired on the nightclub’s outdoor patio and in the parking lot, Thomas said. The shooting happened shortly before 12:10 a.m. Monday.
When officers arrived, they found a man who had been shot in the parking lot, Thomas said. Paramedics took the victim to a hospital, where he died, he said. The man will be publicly identified by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.
Eight other people were shot with “varying degrees of seriousness,” Thomas said. Some took themselves to the hospital and others were taken by paramedics. As of Monday morning, all eight were in “serious but stable” condition, Thomas said.
No weapons were recovered at the scene, but investigators believe at least two guns were fired during the incident, Thomas said.
It’s unknown whether all of the people injured were with the two groups who first confronted each other at the Aurora event, or if some were bystanders, Thomas said. He did not describe the Aurora event, but said the gathering at the lounge was an afterparty for the event.
Ultra Lounge East advertised an afterparty on its social media pages for an event known as “Water Warz 26,” which was held at Del Mar Park in Aurora on Sunday afternoon and evening and was advertised as a community water fight with games, food and giveaways, as well as a birthday party for a local DJ.
Aurora police responded to a call about a “fight with weapons” at Del Mar Park just after 7 p.m. Sunday, Aurora police spokeswoman Gabby Easterwood said. Responding officers found a “very large crowd present for some kind of event,” she said, adding that “numerous fights broke out” while officers were present.
Aurora police issued three summonses and made one arrest, she said. Additional information on the people cited and arrested was not immediately available.
Ultra Lounge East was unusually crowded for a Sunday evening, Thomas said.
“I think one of the challenges that we face in our city, all over our city, is that there are far too many people that have access to guns and just don’t have the appropriate conflict resolution skills,” Thomas said during the briefing.
Investigators were working to identify suspects in the shooting based on witness descriptions, Thomas said during the Monday morning briefing.
The sprawling crime scene was still taped off late Monday morning as a detective talked to witnesses who were waiting to retrieve their cars from the closed-off parking lot. Trash littered the ground.
Witnesses recounted taking cover when the gunshots rang out. One man hid under a car. A woman huddled in a closet.
John Hawkins, who lives at a nearby apartment complex, said he heard what he thought were fireworks and stepped outside to investigate.
“I came outside and I was like, that doesn’t sound like fireworks,” he said. “People were running in all directions.”
The nightclub is not routinely a problem spot, Hawkins said. He and his neighbors sometimes hear loud cars and street racing in the area, but rarely hear music from the lounge. But he noted that his neighbors have found bullet casings on the apartment complex property. He’s thinking about moving, but not because of the recent violence.
“Stuff can happen anywhere,” he said.
The nightclub sits on the edge of Denver’s Hampden and Kennedy neighborhoods, along a stretch of East Hampden Avenue that has become a hotspot for violence this year.
In January, a 16-year-old boy and 26-year-old man were killed when a party celebrating the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro devolved into gunfire.
In March, a domestic violence double shooting inside an apartment in the 8400 block of East Hampden Avenue killed 59-year-old Patricia Daniel and wounded a 37-year-old woman. And in a separate incident that month, 47-year-old Neal Jones was beaten to death outside Ultra Lounge East.
Dionte Wilkins, who is listed as the registered agent for the lounge, did not return a request for comment Monday. On Facebook, that he was hurt, devastated and disappointed by the shooting.
“I’m not speaking as only a Black business owner, but also as a victim of a horrific tragedy, enjoying life and celebration with a community I truly love,” he wrote. “Me and the other survivors are more than fortunate to still have our lives today. We all could have lost our lives because a random act of violence. Innocent people were hurt, and a life was lost in the blink of an eye. The senseless violence in our community has got to stop.”
Thomas told The Denver Post last week that police believe both late-night entertainment establishments and a large apartment complex that serves low-income residents have contributed to the spate of violence this year, which he said have been unconnected incidents.
Police have increased patrols in the area in an attempt to head off the violence.
In 2025, the city saw two homicides in the East Hampden corridor and one non-fatal shooting during the entire year, police records show. In 2024, the corridor experienced a single non-fatal shooting.
