A string of shootings Sunday in the Denver metro area sent five men to hospitals and led to the arrest of one man. There was no evidence the incidents — one in Commerce City and two in Aurora — were linked, authorities said.
Sgt. Chris Amsler, an Aurora police spokesman, said “we are pretty confident” there is no connection between the morning shooting in his city and the Commerce City incident.
The first shooting appears to have taken place in Aurora. Officers responded to reports of multiple shots fired at East 23rd Avenue and Dayton Street at 4:09 a.m., Amsler said. A “short time later,” a man came into the emergency room at University of Colorado Hospital with a leg injury, Amsler said. The man is in critical condition, he said.
In Commerce City, police responded to a report of a disturbance involving a gun at a residence in the 6100 block of East 60th Place at 4:53 a.m.
Officers found a man who had been shot, then located a second adult gunshot victim a block away on East 60th Avenue. Both victims were taken to a local hospital. Police later received a report of a third man with gunshot wounds at a hospital.
Sunday night, Commerce City police issued a news release that officers arrested Miguel DeJesus Mendoza, 28, after he was released from Denver Health Medical Center for non-life threatening wounds to his upper and lower body. He is being held on a charge of attempted first-degree murder.
Police said Zachery Greene, 19, and Artenio Avila, 21, are being treated for gunshot wounds. Greene was shot in the head and is listed in critical condition. Avila was shot in the abdomen and is in stable condition.
Aurora police reported a second shooting around 5:50 p.m., when a man walked into the University Hospital emergency room with a chest wound. The investigation indicated he was shot while he was sitting in a vehicle at East 13th Avenue and Moline Street.