Julio Murillo and his family brought all the kids outside when they heard a loud popping noise a little before 11 on a Wednesday night last month.
The family stood in the front yard of their home in Denver’s Globeville neighborhood and scanned the sky for fireworks, which had continued in the area for more than a week after the Fourth of July — a fun summer treat for the kids.
Murillo and his family didn’t realize the noise was gunfire until police came up to the house and yelled at them to all go inside. Moments earlier, officers and a suspect on the run had exchanged gunfire in a warehouse area 200 yards from the family’s home.
The family went inside and watched the police search their neighborhood, flashlights illuminating alleys and corners.
“It was scary,” Murillo said a day after the July 13 shooting. “Everyone feels vulnerable right now.”
The Washington Street shooting was the second of seven shootings in Denver that week. In total, three people were shot and killed and five others wounded — another deadly week in a city where shootings have become a near-daily occurrence. Two of the shootings involved police firing their guns and another was a self-inflicted injury, but the gunshots terrified neighbors just the same.
Denver Post journalists went to the scene of every shooting that occurred in Denver between July 10 and 16 to gain a better understanding of how gun violence is affecting those closest to the threat. Beyond those injured, the gunfire left residents feeling unsafe in their own neighborhoods and caused workers to look for new jobs.
— Full story via Elise Schmelzer, The Denver Post
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