Denver police have arrested one man accused of killing another in a Thanksgiving Day knife attack at a downtown Denver migrant camp.
Officers on Friday arrested Gido Izquierdo-Ortega, 64, after he was medically cleared of injuries sustained after police say he attacked the stabbing victim on Thursday near the intersection of Park Avenue West and Lawrence Street in Lower Downtown.
Izquierdo-Ortega was injured when the group of migrants he was harassing with a knife defended themselves by throwing objects at him, according to a news release. While initial reports indicated a second person was stabbed, no such victim has been found, police said.
According to a probable cause statement, police responded to the scene at 10:50 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day on a report of a stabbing.
Officers who arrived on the scene found the victim unresponsive. He was taken to Denver Health Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 11:26 a.m. The Office of the Medical Examiner has not identified the victim.
Izquierdo-Ortega was also taken to the hospital for “possible injuries to the head,” according to the statement.
Detectives who reviewed a witness’s cellphone video and nearby surveillance footage saw Izquierdo-Ortega “menacing multiple people with the knife” he pulled from a bag. People nearby waved him away and used a stick to maintain distance from him.
The video shows the victim crossing a street and approaching Izquierdo-Ortega from behind and Izquierdo-Ortega turning and stabbing him in the chest, according to the probable cause statement. Several bystanders then threw several items, including a concrete block, at the suspect, knocking him unconscious.
An unidentified witness told detectives that Izquierdo-Ortega was yelling at the group she was in because they were immigrants from Venezuela. She also told police the victim did not do anything to provoke the suspect before he was stabbed and he walked away and collapsed after the suspect attacked him.
Other unnamed witnesses also told detectives that Izquierdo-Ortega and three other men threatened people in the migrant encampment Wednesday night and that when the suspect returned Thursday morning, one person in the camp ran up and kicked him in the butt and another hit him in the face, which is when he pulled out the knife and began chasing people with it, according to the statement. The witnesses said it appeared the victim was trying to defuse the situation before he was stabbed.
The crime scene isn’t near any of the city’s four migrant shelters.
The police are asking anyone with information to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP(7867) as the investigation continues.
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