Nearly a month after a robbery shook a quiet stretch of East 12th Avenue in Denver's Congress Park neighborhood, police still don't know who did it — and they're renewing their public appeal for help finding him. The Denver Police Department issued a formal Crime Alert on Thursday seeking the public's assistance in identifying a man involved in the July 23 robbery, offering a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to an identification.
According to the Denver Police Dept., the robbery happened at approximately 7:12 a.m. in the 2600 block of East 12th Avenue, a mixed residential and commercial corridor in Congress Park situated east of Cheesman Park, according to Zillow property records for the area. The suspect is described in the alert as an unknown-race male in his late twenties, standing approximately 6 feet 2 inches tall, with a medium build and dark-colored curly or wavy hair. Police have assigned the case number 26-404848 and formally issued the bulletin on Thursday, weeks after the initial incident.
The department's own earlier coverage of the incident noted that officers reported no injuries when they responded that morning, as per Hoodline. The release of a detailed physical description a month later suggests detectives have since gathered additional witness accounts or surveillance evidence, even though a named suspect has yet to emerge.
A Neighborhood Already Under Watch
This isn't the only recent law enforcement activity on that stretch of East 12th Avenue. The block also saw a July 10 apartment shooting, during which Denver police requested doorbell and security camera footage from neighbors — a pattern that underscores how heavily investigators in the area have leaned on community video to identify suspects in open cases.
The renewed appeal also fits into a broader pattern for the department. Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said in July that the department's investigative strategy relies on deploying resources to what he called “persistently violent hotspot locations,” while also publishing social media crime alerts to crowd-source suspect identification from the public, per reporting from KUSA-TV. That approach has shown up in several recent Denver cases, including the department's ongoing search for a wanted robbery suspect named 32-year-old David Nardini, as well as a manhunt for seven robbery suspects tied to a LoDo case and a separate bulletin dubbed the Colfax Bandit search, as per Hoodline.
Robbery Numbers Falling, But Cases Still Linger
The bulletin lands at a moment when robbery numbers are actually trending downward across both Denver and Colorado. Robberies in Denver dropped from 514 reported cases in the first half of 2025 to 451 during the same period in 2026, according to police department figures reported by The Denver Gazette. Statewide, the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice reported a 25.7% drop in robberies during the first half of 2025 compared to the prior year, a decrease of 476 incidents, according to the Office of the Governor of Colorado.
Still, overall reported crime in Denver dipped only slightly — by 0.4% — during the first six months of 2026 compared to the same period a year earlier, even as citywide homicides rose by nearly 37%, according to Denver Police Department data relayed by KUSA-TV. Department leadership has noted that quality-of-life incidents like unsolved robberies can weigh heavily on how safe residents feel, even when the broader numbers are trending in a positive direction.
What Charges Could Look Like
Under Colorado Revised Statutes § 18-4-301, simple robbery — knowingly taking something of value from another person through force, threats, or intimidation — is classified as a Class 4 felony carrying a presumptive sentence of two to six years in prison, according to Justia Law. If investigators determine the suspect used or represented being armed with a deadly weapon, or caused fear of death or serious injury, the charge could escalate to aggravated robbery under Colorado Revised Statutes § 18-4-302 — a Class 3 felony and extraordinary risk crime carrying four to 32 years in prison, per FindLaw. No such details have been released in this case, and the Crime Alert does not indicate whether a weapon was involved.
How to Submit a Tip
Anyone with information about the suspect's identity is asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867 or through its website, rather than commenting on police social media posts. Metro Denver Crime Stoppers operates as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit that receives no government or taxpayer funding, relying instead on community donations and annual Shred-a-thon events to fund tip rewards of up to $2,000. To remain anonymous and stay eligible for that reward, tipsters must contact the tip line directly or submit information through the online portal — the tip line is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and comments left on police social media accounts are not monitored for tip logging. Residents with non-emergency questions can also reach the Denver Police Dept. at 720-913-2000, while anyone witnessing an active crime is urged to call or text 911.
