DENVER (KDVR) — One person is dead after a shooting at a house party involving a large group of teenagers and young people south of Aurora, according to the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office.
Just before midnight Saturday, Arapahoe County dispatch received reports of shots fired at a house in the 18900 block of Crestridge Circle.
Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Deputy John Bartmann told FOX31’s Kasia Kerridge that deputies arrived at the scene and found someone with gunshot wounds.
The sheriff’s office provided an update on X on Sunday, stating that a 17-year-old was arrested in connection with the deadly shooting.
“Deputies arrived on scene and they started life-saving measures on a person that had been shot,” Bartmann said. “Fire rescue responded. Unfortunately, that person has died at the scene.”
Bartmann said there were about 50 to 60 people from teenagers to young adults at the residence for the house party. Deputies have been on the scene since midnight and worked through the morning.
“Something like this where you have that many people, it’s very time consuming,” Bartmann said. “Have to interview all these witnesses who saw what happened and there were quite a few who actually saw what happened. So, this will be going on for the next several hours and deputies have been out here since midnight.”
A neighbor, Michael Gatewood, a local pastor, also witnessed the aftermath of the shooting and told Kerridge he helped several partygoers escape the scene and hide in his garage. He also jumped in to try and help the victim who had been shot.
I had some company at the house, and we heard several gunshots. At that time, we were in the back patio then we started to see children, young adults, jumping the fence into our yard. We had about 10-15 children who jumped the fence because the gunshots had been in the backyard. At that time, I went ahead and got them to safety inside of the garage and then the police came.”
Michael Gatewood
He said he found the person who was wounded and started CPR with a responding deputy, but he had “some very bad wounds” and died.
Gatewood also mentioned the recent wave of so-called “takeover” events involving teenagers meeting en masse at public places, which in June caused what one employee at Denver’s the Shops at Northfield called “kind of like a riot” with fighting and disturbances taking place.
“We should all be helping each other,” Gatewood said. “We do want to pray against this new age of what’s going on on the internet with their meeting places and then they’re doing all these vile things to each other.”
Gatewood also encouraged parents to be aware of where their children are.
“This violence against youth, it has to stop,” Gatewood said. “Parents, realize where your kids are at and what they are doing. It’s never too late to be in your kid’s business.”
The sheriff’s office has not yet released the victim’s age or identity.
