DENVER — Police in Denver are investigating a shooting at Washington Park Sunday afternoon that left one person wounded.
Officers took one person into custody, police said.
The Denver Police Department first reported the shooting on X at 2:41 p.m., later stating that the shooting victim was expected to survive.
Police have not said if the victim was targeted or what may have led up to the shooting.
There were several witnesses to the shooting, including a woman named Sarah, who asked that Denver7 not use her last name as part of this report. She decided to take a walk in the park on Sunday to take advantage of the warm winter day.
“I was right next to where everything happened, sadly," she told Denver7. “I heard a loud pop, and I looked to my left and saw a man on the ground next to his bicycle, and I thought he had blown a tire. Lots of people ran to help him.”
Sarah said she continued her walk, since the man appeared to have several people helping him.
“Started walking down this path behind us, on the gravel outer path here, and saw a young man kind of angrily talking to himself and jumping around, kind of erratically, and cussing and stuff like that," Sarah explained.
She attempted to give the young man some space.
“At some point, he turned around and looked at me and a girl between us, and he said, 'Don't take any pictures of me. Don't take any photos of me,'" she said. “And then he pulled a gun out of his waistband, and he shot it in her direction... She didn't seem to be hurt. And so, I was like, maybe it's a fake gun, maybe it's a blank. I didn't really feel like that could have been real.”
Sarah said she called 911 and watched the young man. She said she saw him get into a red car near the park.
"I can't really believe that this would happen in our park," she said. “It happens everywhere, and it's scary and sad, and I hope everybody's OK."
Residents of the quiet Washington Park neighborhood told Denver7 they heard multiple shots near S. Downing Street and E. Kentucky Avenue on the west side of the park.
Video of the scene shows a crash involving DPD vehicles and a Hyundai sedan at the intersection of E. Kentucky Avenue and S. Corona Street, just one block west of the park.
It’s not known if the crash is connected to the shooting. However, one witness told Denver7 that she saw officers ram the Hyundai shortly after the shooting and then pull their weapons on the driver.
Denver7 contacted DPD for more information, but the department declined to provide additional details about the violent incident at a busy public park in broad daylight.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
