Police: 1 killed in gunfire at Denver area Juneteenth party

AURORA, Colo. (AP) — Police believe multiple people fired guns during a Juneteenth celebration near Denver in shootings that killed one man and injured four others early Sunday.

Investigators have collected more than 114 shell casings from a parking lot at a strip mall where the gunfire broke out in Aurora around 4:30 a.m. after the celebration spread outside from one of the mall units.

The man, whose name has not been released yet, was taken to the hospital where he died, police said. Three men and a woman who were also injured went to the hospital on their own, police said. Their injuries were not considered life threatening, police said.

According to witnesses, people began gathering in the parking lot after the presumed organizers of the event began denying access to the party inside the unit, police said.

It’s not known how the shootings unfolded yet, such as whether two groups of people were firing at one another, with people caught in the crossfire or perhaps members of one group firing into the crowd, police spokesperson Agent Matthew Longshore said Monday.

“We don’t have a lot of concrete answers at this point,” he said.