Denver police: Man called 911 to report fatal stabbings he committed

Police say a suspect arrested in the fatal stabbing of two men earlier this month called 911 to report the slayings he is accused of committing, court records unsealed Wednesday show.

The Denver District Attorney’s Office charged Jamaal Edwards, 29, with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of John Shoeboot, 53, and James Brown, 42. Formal charges against Edwards were handed down on Friday.

The slayings happened about 2 a.m. on Jan. 7 at the Renaissance at Xenia Village, a public housing complex run by the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, on the 1400 block of Xenia Street .

Officers responding to reports of a disturbance found Shoeboot dead. Brown was transported to a hospital where he died.

Edwards was arrested Jan. 12.

Investigators found Edwards made a 911 call received by dispatchers after stabbing the two men based on the time of his call and the location it was made from.

Police located Edwards, who told them he saw an “unidentified man” stab Shoeboot and Brown. Investigators confronted him about inconsistencies in his accounts of the stabbings, at which point he apparently admitted to killing the two men, records show.

Edwards said he fought Brown and Shoeboot during an argument, grabbing two knives before he “blacked out,” according to an arrest affidavit.

Edwards told police that “(expletive) happened.”

Edwards has a long criminal history in Colorado dating to 2004 that includes charges of theft, burglary and drug offenses.

One of the men killed, Shoeboot, was featured in stories by Denver media outlets after being injured in October 2013 when he and two others were hit by a car while waiting at a bus stop on East Colfax Avenue.

Shoeboot’s legs were impaled by pieces of the bus bench, and he was continuing a long, arduous recovery when he was stabbed to death.

Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul