Bronze Statue Yanked From Northwest Denver School, Truck Caught on Camera

A bronze statue that has greeted students at Brown International Academy for nearly two decades was stolen overnight, and Denver police are now searching for three suspects who loaded it into the bed of a red pickup truck and drove off. The theft happened at the school's campus at 2250 N. Lowell Blvd. in northwest Denver, and investigators have released photos of the statue and the suspected getaway vehicle in hopes someone recognizes it.

According to KDVR, the Denver Police Department says the three suspects loaded the statue into the bed of a red extended-cab pickup truck and drove southbound on Lowell Boulevard. The incident has been logged under case number 26-472727, and police have not identified the suspects. Metro Denver Crime Stoppers is asking anyone who recognizes the truck or has information about the theft to come forward.

The statue itself carries deep roots in the neighborhood. The Jefferson Park United Neighbors association donated the bronze sculpture, which depicts five children, to Brown International Academy back in March 2008, installing it near the school's entrance next to the flagpole after acquiring it from developer Allied Realty. The piece was originally meant for Jefferson Park itself, but city project delays led the neighborhood group to gift it to the school instead.

A School Wedged Between Two Neighborhoods

Brown International Academy sits along Lowell Boulevard between Denver's West Highland and Sloan's Lake neighborhoods, serving PreK-5 students with a dual-language curriculum. For nearly 20 years, the statue has stood as a quiet fixture of that stretch of northwest Denver — the kind of neighborhood landmark residents likely walked past without a second thought until it was gone.

Anyone with information can call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. The organization maintains a standing policy offering anonymous rewards of up to $2,000 for tips that lead to an arrest in unsolved felony cases across the Denver area.

Part of a Wider Bronze Theft Problem

The theft fits a pattern that has plagued Denver and the surrounding Front Range for years. Between 2018 and mid-2025, the Denver Police Department recorded more than 2,100 reported incidents of scrap metal theft citywide, not counting catalytic converter thefts, a volume that pushed city leaders to act. In June 2025, the Denver City Council passed an ordinance banning cash payments at scrapyards and requiring dealers to log government-issued IDs, license plate numbers, and signed affidavits of lawful acquisition, co-sponsored by Council Members Darrell Watson and Flor Alvidrez.

Bronze art specifically has been a repeat target. In February 2024, three bronze elements were stolen from the Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream” memorial in Denver's City Park and later recovered after being sold to a local scrapyard, according to The Colorado Sun. More recently, in March 2026, two historic bronze statues were stolen from Holy Ghost Catholic Church in downtown Denver and recovered severely damaged after being cut up for scrap, per CBS News. The Front Range has seen similar tactics beyond Denver's borders — in May 2026, thieves in Greeley cut a life-size bronze statue titled “The Prize Catch” off at its feet to remove it from its base in Glenmere Park in broad daylight, before it was eventually recovered, 9NEWS reported.

How Stolen Bronze Gets Tracked

State law already requires commercial buyers of commodity metals, including bronze and copper alloys, to register with a national scrap theft alert system and keep records of seller vehicle details, under Colorado Revised Statutes § 18-13-111. When bronze artwork is stolen in Denver, police routinely upload item descriptions to the Recycled Materials Association's national online scrap theft database, a system that lets law enforcement agencies notify registered metal recyclers nationwide in real time. Whether the Brown International Academy suspects tried to sell the statue at a registered scrapyard within city limits, or attempted to skirt Denver's new cash and ID rules by hauling it elsewhere, remains unknown.

The theft also echoes a similar case Hoodline covered days earlier, in which a bronze soldier memorial worth an estimated $100,000 was stolen from Paramount City Hall. For now, Denver police have not announced any arrests, and the search for the three suspects and the red pickup truck continues.