Since the end of June, four high-profile shootings occurred in the metro Denver area — all involving juvenile suspects and all occurring before 9 p.m.

In the same timeframe, two incidents involved juveniles shooting at police officers during pursuits.

Some officials and community members believe that, without aggressive intervention, the trend will only escalate, putting the lives of young men — the suspects are mostly boys — and law enforcement officers alike, not to mention members of the public.

What’s worrying many is that some have adopted a fatalistic, even nihilistic, stance on life.  

“I tell these young people, ‘You can come back from all of the other things. Murder is something you almost can’t come back from.’ Their response is, ‘Well, I’m going to die, anyway,'” said Dr. Joseph Silva, vice president of equity initiatives at the Generation Schools Network and founder of the Silva Family Foundation nonprofit.

Though fatal shootings involving a juvenile suspect are only on pace to increase slightly in Denver this year, the incidents have gotten more brazen, often occurring in daylight and in populated places, such as the 16th Street Mall.

And community leaders and officials are struggling to contain the violence and provide a path out of it, although they strongly believe partnerships and programs for young people will help.

Young and violent

All told, shootings — both fatal and nonfatal — involving juvenile suspects appears to have plateaued in Denver and Aurora since 2022.

In 2022, there were eight homicide shootings and 13 non-fatal shootings with a juvenile suspect, according to data from the Denver Police Department. There were 14 non-fatal and four fatal shooting with a juvenile suspect in Aurora that year, according to data from the Aurora Police Department.

In 2023, the number of homicide shootings in Denver dropped to four, but the non-fatal shootings rose to 28. In Aurora, the number of non-fatal shootings was 10 and the fatal shootings were five.

As of Sept. 10, 2024, there have been two homicide shootings with a juvenile suspect and six non-fatal in Aurora.

As of Sept. 24, 2024, there have been six homicide shootings with a juvenile suspect and five non-fatal shootings in Denver, showing an increase in murders but a drastic decrease in shootings overall.

The shootings, especially those drawing prominent media coverage, have occurred in broad daylight and crowded places, adding to their sense of intensity and the perception that the situation is out of control.

Consider these incidents:

• The Aurora Police Department arrested a 15-year-old boy and 14-year-old boy in connection to the shooting of a 12-year-old and 14-year-old boy that occurred outside of an apartment complex at 12437 East Ford Ave. on June 19. The shooting occurred around 4 p.m.

• Aurora police then arrested a 17-year-old girl for allegedly shooting three teens, leaving two injured and another dead, at Highlands Hollow Park around 9 p.m. on July 6.

• The shooting came just three days before a 14-year-old boy, Steven Joseph Marquez, allegedly shot and killed 49-year-old William Todd Kidd outside of a popular bar and taco restaurant — located at 29th Street and Larimer Street in Denver’s River North neighborhood (RiNo) — in a separate incident on July 10 around 6:30 p.m.

• A month later, a 16-year-old Cyrus Haggard was arrested in connection to the shooting of three people outside along the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver around 5:30 p.m on Aug. 13.

• In two other incidents, Aurora police arrested four minors for allegedly shooting at a police vehicle with “multiple” firearms during a pursuit on Aug. 10. A day later, two minors were arrested for allegedly shooting at a Englewood Police Department vehicle with an AK-47 during a pursuit.

“I share in concern about the use of guns and the violence that we’re seeing among the youth,” Denver District Attorney Beth McCann told The Denver Gazette. “It’s one of the biggest issues that I’m concerned about and feel like we’re not necessarily able to get a good handle on.” 

Crime is down, intensity is up

Statistically, homicides of any age are lower in Denver than 2023, but not by much. 

There were 35 homicides in the city during the first six months of the year, an 8% drop from the 38 in the same time period last year, according to a study from the Major Cities Chiefs Association, a group of police executives representing the largest cities in North America.

In the entire state, there were 128 murders during the first half of 2024, down 10% from the 148 in the same time period last year, according to data from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

But when it comes to juveniles, the numbers have jumped since 2010, according to a study by the Common Sense Institute (CSI), a Denver-based think tank.

Since 2010, murder committed by juveniles in the state has increased 210% from rates of 0.2 in 2010 to 0.5 per 100,000 people last year.

Some argue against an aggressive crack down.

“If violence is dropping, and some of these juvenile cases do occur, we don’t want to overact and become more punitive toward kids,” said David Pyrooz, a criminologist and associate professor of sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Statistically, violent crime is down across the country, with violent crime rates falling 49% between 1993 and 2022, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Pyrooz noted that cracking down on juvenile crime, like imposing curfews in specific areas, may breed cynicism and make the job of police officers harder. Those children may be less likely to participate and engage with the system, he said. 

“We don’t want the violence of few to reduce the liberties of many,” Pyrooz said. “Even if you take the most active areas where there’s the most shootings, most of those kids are going to be good kids, who all they want to do is go out in play in productive ways. But when you crack down so hard and bring down the hammer, it leads to a withdrawal from many in the community.”

Pyrooz noted the crime rate dropping over time, pointing back toward the the “Summer of Violence” — a moniker used by Denver media outlets — that involved 74 deaths in the metro area in the summer of 1993.

“There are cases all over of young kids doing this type of stuff. If you go back 15, 20, 25 years, you’re going to find those cases, as well,” Pyrooz said. “I hate to say this because it makes me come across as if I’m blasè about the violence. It’s really terrible violence that occurs, but we just get so caught up in the novelty and recency of these events.”

That summer of violence three decades ago is what generated Silva’s career in youth violence advocacy.

In 1993, a friend’s older brother stabbed a rival gang member. A year later, the rival gang set up a hit on Silva’s friend, a 12-year-old boy named Wesley, shooting and killing him in front of then-14-year-old Silva in Lakewood. Wesley’s older brother had stabbed the rival gang member.

Silva has since dedicated more than 30 years of his life to fighting for the youth.

Silva began putting on youth programs in 2007. He started a school supply drive in Sloan’s Lake in 2008 that became the Silva Family Foundation in 2021. The organization has given out 35,000 backpacks and provides mental health services and anti-violence programs for Denver youth.

Last year, his 28-year-old nephew was murdered in Aurora, strengthening his resolve to stop violence in the community.

“While the numbers may have dropped, the intensity at which these individuals are willing to go out and commit these crimes is so much different than the murder I survived in 1994,” he said. “When the gun was put to my chest and Wesley was murdered, I didn’t think about going and picking up a gun. These young people do not care.”

“I am tired of our politicians and our leaders saying youth violence is subsiding. It is not,” he said. “The brazenness, the intentionality, the lack of moral of how individuals are attacking individuals, just walking up to somebody and shooting them in the back of the head, is unacceptable behavior.”

Summertime violence

If the intensity of youth shootings has increased, despite overall crime numbers dropping, advocates of all stripes said it’s crucial to figure out the causes in order to work on solutions.

McCann, the Denver prosecutor, believes the increase is likely due to the availability of guns and blames the “worship” of guns often on display on social media platforms.

McCann’s position is a familiar argument among Democrats, who see guns as the culprit and who therefore believe restricting their ownership or use is the solution.  

“The proliferation of guns in Denver and the easy access that juveniles have to guns is certainly a major factor,” she said. “We see kids posting on social media pictures of themselves with AR-15s, AK-47s, handguns … Our culture sort of worships guns, in a way, and the kids are susceptible to that kind of approach. It’s sort of a macho thing to put up a picture of yourself with a gun.

Both McCann and Silva agreed that the COVID pandemic and the year-long lockdown may have increased violence due to a change in usual social networks.

“COVID exposed the disparities, not just in healthcare but across the lines,” Silva said. “It equalized a lot of people. We all ended up in the same place. Coming out of that, there hasn’t been an intentionality of how do we re-acclimate society to a new normal. If our kids aren’t in school, they’re doing something else. We haven’t figured out how to get them back in school and get them back in workforce training.”

At the height of the pandemic, governments closed businesses and curbed public gatherings, while school officials shut down schools and moved students to virtual environments. 

While Pyrooz agreed the easy access to guns and their prevalence on social media may be contributing factors to the increase in young people committing brazen crimes, he also noted that high-profile shootings over the last few months may play directly into the summer season.

“In summertime, violence always goes up,” he said. 

During the summertime, juveniles have more free time and less supervision, potentially leading to negative activities, he said. That lack of guardianship and increase in peer influence, especially during the days of summer, may increase crime.

“It’s just a deadly combination when you take kids whose brains haven’t fully developed, you put them in a situation where there aren’t many guardians and you bring in minor conflicts. They just don’t know how to resolve their conflicts in the appropriate ways,” Pyrooz said.

That lack of mentoring, supervision and activities may be the key in reducing crime beyond just the out-of-school season.

“The brazenness is when you don’t have hope, you got to the other spectrum,” Silva said. “You go for exhilaration. You look for that intensity.”

A case for parenthood

Around 70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from single-parent homes, according to a study published by the America First Policy Institute in 2024.

In the same study, children who feel closeness to their father are 80% less likely to spend time in jail.

The lack of strong familial presence in households, especially boys without fathers, may be a direct cause of the increase in violence amongst young men — something that local nonprofits and other organizations, like the Colorado Fatherhood Initiative, are attempting to improve. 

“Creating a positive family environment can have a profound impact on reducing juvenile violence,” Dwayne Meeks, manager of the Fatherhood Initiative, said. “Supportive family structures can reduce the risk, but it’s not 100% guaranteed, but the outcomes are a little bit higher of them being successful.”

The Colorado Fatherhood Initiative, which then-Gov. Roy Romer’s office launched in the 1990s, works to provide practitioners and nonprofits with the highest level of fatherhood programming through experts and open forums. 

“You look at young men and what they’re seeking when they’re engaging in this type of behavior — maybe dad is not in the home or dad is in the home and not engaged,” Meeks said, noting that the lack of father engagement may lead to increased aggression and violent behavior.

That lack of a father may also lead to joining gangs, he added.

“What gangs provide is that connection, that structure, that understanding and listening that they may not get at home,” he said. “Even though that may lead to negative behaviors, young men are seeking that because they don’t have that guidance and mentorship in homes.”

While the importance of both parents being present is obvious, Meeks noted that the nurturing nature of a father, especially for young men, is crucial. 

“It’s not a thing where it’s mom against dad. It takes both parents to raise a healthy child and have that balance of femininity and masculinity in the home,” Meeks said.

“Parenthood is a role,” he added. “But, who’s the woman behind the mother and the man behind the father? How do they bring both of their histories together to raise a family?”

“If you come from a family of gang members, as opposed to someone that comes from a rich family, you’re going to start taking on those qualities. You’re fighting those kind of things,” he said.