Motive Unclear In Attack By Group Of Teens On 16th Street Mall DENVER (CBS4) â Police are asking for the publicâs help tracking down a large group of violent teenagers. They say 10 to 15 young people â described as black or Hispanic and both male and female â attacked four white men on the 16th Street Mall at about 10:45 p.m. on Sunday. Denver police say the men were standing on the mall near Arapahoe when they were approached by the group. After a conversation, the group turned violent and they attacked the men. Two of the four victims left the scene before they could be questioned. The Denver Post reported that two of the victims suffered minor injuries. âItâs really unclear as to what their motivation was â why such a large group of young people came together and assaulted these individuals,â said Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson. Authorities say the attacks could have been gang related or racially motivated. âWeâre not going to dismiss anything in this case because we donât know,â Jackson told CBS4. In 2009 a similar series of attacks took place near downtown, on the 16th Street Mall and in surrounding areas. The victims were usually white or Hispanic and the suspects were black. Surveillance video captured one of the attacks on camera. Many of those arrested in connection with the assaults were known to have ties with street gangs. Police said some or all of those attacks may have a kind of gang initation. Police will confirm that in this weekendâs case the victims were not robbed, which narrows down the list of motives somewhat. Police are asking anyone who has more information about the attacks, including the two victims who walked off, to come forward. They also want to interview anyone who witnessed the attack. There is a $2,000 Crimestoppers reward for information that helps solve the case. http://denver.cbslocal.com/2011/09/...attack-by-group-of-teens-on-16th-street-mall/
When I lived in Denver (geez, it seems I have lived everywhere) the black community was just east of downtown and the hispanic community was west of downtown across all the railroad tracks and past the Broncos stadium. I'm surprised there hasn't been more violence between those groups. I never liked going downtown unless I was going to a baseball game. Bad traffic, bad parking and bad neighborhoods kept me away.
I went to USAF radar school in Denver at Lowry AFB in the mid-late seventies on swingshift (6:00PM - Midnight) for about a year. We used to hang out in City Park during the day and throw the frisbee if the weather was ok. There were no other white people in the park, period. I remember the black guys playing timbales there all day. I never had a problem and have good memories of that place. At that time my best friend at school was a black guy from the bronx. I lived with a thai chick (I was 17) and she got upset whenever he came over to the apartment lol. At the time I couldn't understand why. One time she slammed a door and I honestly thought she shot him. My outlook has certainly changed since then but I try to keep an open mind when possible.
LOL. I don't know first hand but buddies who are retired AF tell me thai chicks have really silky skin. Anyway, you should have called me back then. I just moved to Denver in 1972 and my girlfriend was hispanic. Those were my prime partying days in SE Denver through the 70's and 80's. Of course, if you were 17 I probably wouldn't even talk to you since you had a few years to go before you could drink.
I lived in Denver (Aurora) from '72 to '78, then moved up to Ft. Collins. Funny you mention Lowry, 377, my dad was a career military man, and we had full base privileges. Shopping at the BX. That's how I was raised. Ahh, the memories. That golf course was rough, lol. And Fitzsimmons AMB for hospital. He's gone now, my mom's ancient, and every year seems to bring more cutbacks to the benefits that were promised to military men and their families. Edit: pspr, if you moved to Denver in '72 then you must remember a tune that was on the radio that summer, Danny Holien's 'California'. Bye buppa bye buppa bye.
Wow, Fitzsimmons is gone? I'll bet that whole end of Colfax has gotten a little rough. Did the Lowry real estate parcel get developed? I haven't been back since about 1980.
Gee, that doesn't even sound familiar. It seems all they played were John Denver songs. I liked his music but didn't care for him. Everyone got pissed at him after he stocked up on gasoline when the shortages hit. I can remember getting gas for 19 cents a gallon in Westminster just after I moved there in '72. I always though Lowery was the strangest air base. No active runway. I guess they could get a plane in there if they had to. What's an air base without airplanes? Some of the best bar hopping was at Houlihans, Bull & Bush, Caladonias and a hand full of others that came and went in Glendale like the SportsPage and the Lift. For a while I sold real estate west of Loveland and Ft. Collins in Big Thompson canyon (until the flood), Buckhorn canyon and near Red Feather Lakes. Remember Don Weixelman and Continental West Realty on East Mullberry. That guy still owes me thousands in commissions that I could never get out of him.
Lowry was in Air Training Command. Weapons loaders, Precision Measurement Lab Training, Fundamental Electronics and Airborne Radar for Phantoms. There was a runway and I remember some planes coming and going but just transports and trainers. We used to drink at the Airmans club which was the wildest one I've ever seen. We also went to a place downtown called the Yellow Pages. For some reason I could get in. My first night at Lowry I remember my friends carrying me back to the barracks through the snow as I had gotten really fucked up and was just a kid. That was the only night I spent on base for my entire one year visit. I met a lovely thai girl the next night and moved in with her in Aurora. Learned to ski up at Arapahoe Basin and have never stopped. I also got the sunburn of my life fishing out at the Cherry Creek Reservoir. I had to sleep in a chair in front of the air-conditioner for a couple of nights. Man it was bad. Had fun in Denver but just never made it back. I had a job offer in Boulder a few years ago but it just didn't appeal to me.
You're probably lucky you didn't take the job in Boulder. Boulder is beautiful, especially when it snows. But it's not a place for conservatives. I used to go visit friends and dated a few girls there and could only take about a day of those people. Lots and lots of transients in addition to the college crowd. Liberal on a level worse than San Francisco. I'm a big Nebraska fan and after the McCartney years of teaching CU fans to hate, Boulder became notorious for bad sportsmanship. I've even had people try to run me over on game day in Boulder not to mention all the offers to kick the crap out of you as you go to or from the stadium. Some restaurants would even refuse to serve Nebraska fans.
FWIW... When Fitzsimmons closed, the property was given to the University of Colorado Health Sciences. It has grown to perhaps 50 buildings and parking for 20,000. Construction started about 12 years ago and is still going strong. Old Lowry got developed. Unfortunately, houses are claustrophobically close together... prices generally $500K - $2 Mil Don't remember Lowry having a runway. It was a major Finance center for USAF.