Reports show downtown assaults were racially motivated

DENVER - Newly-released reports from the Denver Police Department suggest a series of assaults in Downtown Denver were driven by racial hatred.

Police think these attacks were the work of gangs trying to claim turf in LoDo; the Crips and the Black Gangsta Disciples.

Thirty-five suspects have been arrested in the cases. Their arrest affidavits released Friday explain why their attacks were directed at whites.

"Just white people getting knocked out," said one suspect.

The suspect says they targeted white people because they "looked like they had money."

A victim reported an attacker said it "smells like white people" before he was jumped.

Another victim reported being called racial slurs.

The arrest affidavits say suspects told police that the gangs "own that area" and they were sending a message to white people "not to come downtown without their friends for protection."

The suspects specifically said they were looking to keep white people away from the Bash nightclub.

A call left for the managers there wasn't returned to 9NEWS on Friday.

There were dozens of these allegedly racially-motivated assaults in LoDo in July and September, which is a lucrative time of year for entertainment venues and businesses in that area.

Denver Police didn't acknowledge the attacks until pressed by reporters and did not initially admit the assaults had a clear pattern: white men being attacked by gang members.


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