Boulder Police Seek Two Men After 19-Year-Old CU Student Killed at Halloween House Party
Late Saturday night on The Hill in Boulder, a registered university Halloween party ended in gunfire that left one 19-year-old University of Colorado student dead and another critically wounded. The fatal incident occurred just six blocks west of the CU Boulder campus near the intersection of 7th Street and Marine Street, according to local authorities.
Boulder Police Department Chief Stephen Redfearn detailed the sequence of events during a Sunday morning press conference. The gathering had been registered in advance with the university, featuring a live band and “hundreds” of attendees. Just before 10 p.m., Boulder dispatchers received a noise complaint regarding the home. Responding officers determined the noise level constituted a neighborhood nuisance, issued a ticket to the party’s organizers, and took one highly intoxicated person into custody. Most of the crowd dispersed as the party wound down, though a core group of people and the renters remained inside.
At approximately 11:30 p.m., after police had left the area, 9-1-1 dispatchers received reports of a shooting at the home. Chief Redfearn stated that the gunfire erupted after a group attempted to force its way into the residence to join the gathering. Responding officers arrived within minutes to find two victims suffering from gunshot wounds. Authorities applied a tourniquet to one of the injured students before rushing both victims to the hospital. One student died from his injuries after arriving at Boulder Community Hospital, while the second student remained in critical condition.
Investigation, Persons of Interest, and Increased Campus Patrols
Investigators spent the morning reviewing doorbell camera footage and interviewing roughly 20 witnesses to the shooting. On Sunday morning, the Boulder Police Department released still images of two persons of interest captured on video immediately prior to the incident. Authorities have urged the public to help identify and locate the two men. The first person of interest is described as a man with short dark hair and facial hair, wearing a red hooded sweatshirt underneath a black jacket. The second man has short dark hair and was wearing a black shirt with Art the Clown on it and a silver-colored chain necklace.
It is imperative that we speak with them,
Chief Redfearn said during the press conference, while declining to label the two men as suspects.
Twentieth Judicial District Attorney Michael Dougherty emphasized the magnitude of the ongoing investigation during Sunday’s briefing. This is an incredibly tragic event,
Dougherty said, adding that progress was already being made in the coordinated law enforcement response. We are very likely going to solve this crime, and I promise we will hold the shooter or shooters fully accountable for the devastation and trauma they’ve caused.
The homicide marks the first in Boulder this year, according to Redfearn. In response to the violence, both the Boulder Police Department and the University of Colorado Boulder Police Department increased patrols across The Hill on Sunday. CU Boulder Police Chief Ashley Griffin addressed the emotional toll of the tragedy on the campus community, noting that university police forces mobilized to secure the western perimeter of the campus during the overnight investigation. No parent should have to receive this news on a day like today about their child,
Griffin said.
Investigators have asked anyone who attended the party or witnessed the shooting to submit photographs and videos online through the Boulder Police Department evidence portal. Individuals with information regarding the identities of the persons of interest are asked to contact Boulder PD dispatch at 303 411-333 in reference to case 26-10148.
