AURORA, Colo. — The Aurora Police Department is continuing its investigation into a deadly triple shooting that broke out in the parking lot of a popular shopping center Wednesday evening.
Officers responded to reports of a shooting in the parking lot of the Market Square shopping center, located at 1155 South Havana Street, around 8:36 p.m. Wednesday.
Officers arrived and found two men — a 43-year-old and a 36-year-old — suffering from gunshot wounds. One man was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to police.
A short time later, officers learned of a 46-year-old woman who had been shot and was taken to the hospital by a private vehicle. Police said she suffered serious injuries.
Aurora
One killed, two more injured in shooting in Aurora shopping center parking lot
On Thursday, the Arapahoe County Coroner's Office identified the deceased man as 43-year-old James Michael Young.
An investigation into the shooting and the circumstances leading up to it is underway. Aurora PD Agent Matthew Longshore told Denver7 Thursday there was "some sort of fight dispute that led up to the shooting."
"We are actively following up on leads, so detectives have gained some information from surveillance in the area, from witness statements and testimonies," Longshore said. "We are really close to hopefully being able to identify the people involved, but [they are] not in custody currently."
Investigators believe there is more than one suspect.
"[We are] combing through surveillance footage, including nearby cameras that the police department may have access to, but also working with the stores and the businesses in that area to make sure that we have that surveillance footage," Longshore said.
Nearby businesses include a King Soopers, a liquor store, and a Baskin-Robbins. Alam Haileslasse, who owns a barbershop in the shopping center, heard everything from inside his business.
"When I work with my customer, I hear gunshots almost 10 times or something," he told Denver7. "Yeah, scary. Scary."
Haileslasse has only owned the barbershop for about 9 months, but said he has never experienced something like this during his short time.
Shoppers in the area, like Samina Fanga, still feel uneasy about returning to the center.
"It's unsafe for me, and really for also all of the people here," she said.
Fanga said she frequents the King Soopers location "six days a week, because we have our own business here. We have a restaurant. We come here to buy our stuff, like some of them."
Aurora PD's crime data shows shootings in the city are down roughly 37% compared to this time last year. Longshore said the department is doing everything it can to apprehend the suspects.
"We want to get these people in custody as quickly as we can, and we want to make sure that we're providing resources to the victims, as well as anyone that was impacted by this: witnesses, other people in the parking lot, things like that," Longshore said.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. Tipsters can remain anonymous.
