Sniper firing at Denver’s Beauvallon high-rise terrifies residents

Police on Tuesday confirmed they’re investigating two cases where someone fired rifle shots at condos in Denver’s swank, high-rise Beauvallon residential building — and appealed to the public for help.

Denver police are working with Broomfield police, who have arrested a man accused of firing a shot Saturday at the Jus’ Burritos restaurant northwest of Denver on U.S. 287 in Broomfield.

In the sniper-style incidents in Denver, someone fired at least five shots on June 14 and on July 4. The shootings have shaken residents of Beauvallon, in Denver’s Golden Triangle area at 925 N. Lincoln St.

No injuries have been reported.

A video circulating on social media shows a man standing with a rifle by a light-colored Toyota Prius in a parking lot below the building, where residents often gather on exposed balconies with long views and a rooftop pool. The video shows the man firing multiple shots from the rifle aimed at an upward angle. Beauvallon officials have reported multiple broken windows on different levels.

“This is very unnerving. I don’t know how it can be prevented,” said manager Larry Healy, a retired U.S. Army first sergeant who oversees 200 condos and 13 businesses. Healy said he pulled a .22-caliber bullet from one window frame, apparently matching a casing found in a nearby parking lot.

“People are still worried about their safety and their homes,” Healy said Tuesday morning. “In one instance, a bullet passed two feet behind a woman who was working at her computer. On the Fourth of July, there were two people out on a balcony, and bullets went over their heads and impacted a window above where they were standing.”

Denver police on Tuesday asked that anybody with information call their anonymous Crime Stoppers tip line at 720-913-7867.

“It is unknown if these incidents are related,” a Denver Police Department spokesman said in an emailed response to queries about the June and July shootings.

Both Denver cases are “under investigation” and “no arrests have been made,” the spokesman wrote. He described the incidents as “similar,” with shots fired at the Beauvallon building.

But Denver police declined to discuss their investigations into “criminal mischief” or share other information.

In Broomfield, police are “aware of the similarities between incidents” and are “collaborating with other law enforcement agencies, including the Denver Police Department, in an active investigation,” Broomfield police spokesperson Rachel Haslett said.

At the Broomfield Detention Center, police on Tuesday were holding a man identified as Kenneth Fairchild, 45, on $200,000 bail, Haslett said. He’s been booked on charges of attempted first-degree murder, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, prohibited use of a weapon, and driving under the influence of alcohol.

A Prius in a photo posted by Broomfield police after the restaurant shooting Saturday resembles the Prius caught in the video from Denver.

Beauvallon residents were “cautiously optimistic,” Healy said, “that the individual arrested in Broomfield may be responsible” for the sniping in Denver.

Over the past day, people living in other metro Denver high-rise buildings have contacted Beauvallon residents suggesting they may know of other sniper-style shootings at buildings in the downtown area, Healy said.

“When this happens, a more thorough and energetic investigation, and releasing enough information to the public, might have helped prevent an individual from shooting at additional buildings,” he said.

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