A shooting near East Mississippi Avenue and South Dahlia Street in Glendale, Colorado, left at least one person dead early Monday morning, and police have detained multiple people as they piece together what happened. Authorities have not released the identity of the victim, nor have they disclosed what led up to the gunfire.
According to Denver7, police say the shooting involved multiple people and killed at least one person. Investigators are still working through the circumstances, and it remains unclear whether anyone else was hurt. Police have not said the shooting poses an ongoing threat to the public, and they have asked residents and passersby to avoid the area while the investigation continues.
The shooting unfolded in one of the most tightly packed corners of the Denver metro area. Glendale is a 0.57-square-mile enclave surrounded by the City and County of Denver, and it ranks as Colorado's most densely populated municipality, with 4,613 residents counted in the 2020 U.S. Census, according to Wikipedia. Nearly all of that permanent population lives in multi-family housing, and renters occupy more than 90 percent of the city's over 2,000 apartment units, per the IACP Career Center — meaning the East Mississippi and Dahlia corridor sits amid dense apartment complexes rather than a sprawling suburban grid.
A Landmark Neighbor and a History of Emergency Response
The intersection where the shooting happened sits adjacent to Infinity Park, Glendale's flagship municipal sports and entertainment complex, home to an international rugby stadium and event venue, the IACP account notes. The area has not been the site of a multi-agency emergency response before. In June 2024, an early morning apartment fire near the same intersection displaced a family. It required joint work from Denver Fire crews and Glendale Police to evacuate residents, as reported by 9NEWS.
That kind of cross-agency response is built into how Glendale operates. While the city runs its own police department, it has contracted with the Denver Fire Department and Denver Paramedics for fire protection and emergency medical services since 2005, per Wikipedia. It is a structural quirk that shapes how first responders converge on scenes like Monday's shooting, even though the incident falls squarely within Glendale's own jurisdiction.
A Small Department Covering a Surging Daytime Population
The Glendale Police Department is a compact operation, with 23 full-time sworn officers and 13 civilian employees working out of headquarters on South Birch Street, according to the IACP profile. Justin Haynes was named police chief in January, succeeding longtime Chief Joe Haskins, who retired after 38 years in law enforcement and nearly 13 years leading the Glendale department, the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle reported.
That small force is tasked with policing a city whose population swells dramatically during the day. Glendale's permanent population sits around 4,600, but the daytime count can climb to between 40,000 and 120,000 once commuters, shoppers, and visitors are factored in, according to the city's own website. FBI crime data released in September 2025 showed Glendale recorded a violent crime rate of 2,274.28 per 100,000 residents in 2024, among the highest of any Colorado municipality, per the Denver Gazette.
The department has also faced scrutiny of its own in recent years. In March 2024, an internal affairs investigation alleged sloppy police work and sparked criminal inquiries touching nearly a quarter of the department's sworn officers, 9NEWS reported at the time. It is unclear whether that earlier review has any bearing on how Monday's homicide investigation is being handled.
For now, key questions remain open. Police have not named the victim, have not detailed what triggered the shooting, and have not said whether any of those detained will face charges. Investigators continue to work the scene, and residents are being asked to stay clear of the area while that work continues.
