DENVER (AP) – A shooting in downtown Denver amid fans celebrating the Nuggets’ first NBA championship victory was likely prompted by a drug deal gone bad, police said Tuesday. The violence left 10 injured, including one of the two suspected shooters.
All of the injured are expected to survive, including five or six people who police believe were bystanders who are not involved in drug dealing, Chief Ron Thomas said at a news conference. He said 20 rounds were fired at the scene, about a mile from Ball Arena, where the Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat on Monday night.
Police spokesman Doug Schepman said the shooting was “in the area where we had the largest gathering of people celebrating overnight,” but the crowd had “diminished quite a bit by that time.”
The shooting broke out around 12:30 a.m., about 3 1/2 hours after the game, the Denver Police Department said in a statement.
Scott D’Angelo was broadcasting live when he heard loud pops one after the other, causing pandemonium as people ran for cover or jumped over cement barricades. Police in riot gear scrambled and wrestled for their weapons as they shouted for people to take cover.
Crouching on the floor, D’Angelo, 58, said his arms were shaking from nerves and he felt an asthma attack coming on.
As the officers began to move toward the gunshot, D’Angelo heard a female voice about a dozen feet (3 meters) away “screaming in pain.” Another victim was a short distance away from the first, D’Angelo said, as officers rushed to provide attention.
The shooting ended after about 20 seconds, he said after reviewing his footage, which he has turned over to law enforcement. When the ambulances arrived, D’Angelo saw a long trail of blood from a victim who must have been “bleeding profusely,” and then saw bullet casings a few feet from where he had fallen to the ground.
The shooting happened in downtown Denver’s LoDo district, known for its restaurants and nightlife. Yellow police tape sealed off the area overnight Tuesday as investigators searched the scene, which was littered with clue markers and what appeared to be debris left over from the celebrations, including an electric scooter and a rental bicycle green.
D’Angelo said he felt “a little numb” after witnessing the violence.
“To point someone and shoot indiscriminately at innocent bystanders, even trying to think about it, it’s like I have a lot of emotion, a lot of feelings that I can’t really explain,” he said.
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The story has been updated to correct that the suspect was one of 10 people shot at the scene, according to police.
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