By Gabriela Vidal
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COLORADO (KCNC) — A Denver woman says she’s unsettled by an encounter she had on the street at night with a person she believes is the man who attacked two joggers. Police are still searching for the suspect.
The woman, who provided the name Andrea and isn’t sharing her last name, says she was walking her dog in the Washington Park neighborhood on Jan. 10 when it happened. She was near the intersection of Franklin Street and Louisiana Avenue when a man started following her.
“I made eye contact with this gentleman, and he kind of gave me a bad vibe, so I decided that when I got to the next block, I would just sort of glance back and see where he was,” she said. “That’s when I noticed that he did not in fact cross the street, he was walking towards me slowly or walking in my direction slowly. So, I called my husband and said, ‘Come up here I don’t feel safe,’ which I’ve never done before in my life.”
She says the man continued to pass by her multiple times.
“I just wanted to stand under that bright light right next to Louisiana, and the person passed by me, and then at this point I called my husband again and decided to just stay on the line with him,” said Andrea. “(The man) was close enough to me that my dog jumped up on him.”
“When I got home, I drew the blinds and I just thought, ‘that has never happened to me in my 55 years and I hope that never happens again,'” Andrea said.
A few days later, she saw a report about two female joggers who were attacked by a man within a span of a few weeks. The description of the male suspect took her by surprise.
“I said, ‘Oh my gosh. I can’t believe I encountered this person,” said Andrea. “I called Crime Stoppers and they called me back quickly.”
One of those attacks happened on Jan. 7 near the 1300 block of Grant Street, close to Platt Park. A woman was jogging when the suspect reportedly attacked her and caused minor injuries. The victim described the man, who was captured on surveillance video, as a 6-foot-tall Black man with dreadlocks and a possible tattoo on his hand.
On Jan. 27, another female victim who was running at night alleges a man with a similar description attacked her near the intersection of South Grant Street and East Ellsworth Avenue.
While Andrea says she is grateful her encounter with the person she believes is the same suspect was not as bad, these other incident raise safety concerns.
“While the days are short, I’m no longer taking my dog out for an after-dinner walk because its already dark,” she said. “So, we are not doing our walks in the dark at all, unless I’m accompanied by a neighbor or my husband.”
Flor Alvidrez, Councilwoman for Denver’s District 7, said the city has been working with the community to encourage victims of assault or suspicious encounters to come forward.
“We’re seeing a pattern of incidents along District 7 — from the Wash Park person that’s flashing people and attacking people, to Baker neighborhood also having some assaults there,” said Alvidrez.
Alvidrez says at the same time, city leaders are using other agencies to increase a safety presence in these communities when police cannot be there.
“We’re also in contract with the mayor’s administration who has promised this new contractor, Urban Alchemy, would be on far South Broadway to help promote pro-social behavior,” she said. “They’re like ambassadors that can … intervene when there is something like an assault that can maybe hopefully be there quicker.”
Denver police have also widened their scope in the attempt to locate the suspect. They released more photos this week from Jan. 7 of the alleged suspect standing in the street while a group of three other people were walking a dog.
They’re asking for potential witnesses, like the people in the photo, to come forward and help identify the man, as well as anyone else who may have seen this person.
While residents like Andrea hope anyone who is threatening people in their community is caught, she also hopes it’s an opportunity to establish proactive measures, like surveillance cameras in areas where people could be vulnerable.
“That’s a decision that the community needs to make, but given that this park is bordered by three different schools, it’s in the shadow of (the University of Denver), there’s churches that line it, not to mention the community at large, and this is a park that people drive through outside of the community to enjoy, it does beg the question whether we want to have any protective surveillance cameras,” she said.
Alvidrez says they’re also working with police to schedule a self-defense class for people in the community that want more resources on how they can protect themselves.
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