DENVER — A young couple was recently assaulted and robbed in Lodo by, not one, but eight attackers.
The attack, which remains under investigation, took place on Saturday, Oct. 24, but now one of the victims is speaking out in hopes of finding justice.
A woman told FOX31 she and her boyfriend had just parked on 19th Street when they were attacked. She said they were on their way to a bar in Lodo at about 11 p.m., when they walked away from their car and decided to take a shortcut through an alley between Market and Larimer streets.
“We were walking, holding hands, talking and I remember looking back and I’ll never forget the headlights,” she said.
She said a black SUV with no license plates pulled into the alley and eight people got out.
“We stopped and they headed towards us and I remember my boyfriend saying, ‘Hey, what are you doing? Stop.’ because they were walking at us,” she said. “That’s the last thing I remember.”
In a panic, the woman says she blacked out. Only later did she discover bruises on her hands and legs from falling to the ground. The next thing she remembers is looking up and seeing her boyfriend surrounded.
“I started yelling at them, ‘Leave us alone! Leave us alone,’” she said. “I threw my purse to the side so I could defend myself if I had to.”
The woman says one of the attackers immediately grabbed her purse and the group then jumped back into the SUV and took off. Her boyfriend suffered a gash to his head but was okay.
“It makes you feel helpless,” she said.
Later that night the attackers used her credit card at the Gin Mill, Marquis Pizza, and at the Corner Store gas station on south Broadway. She said detectives told her they have surveillance video from the station, but she has yet to see it.
“You know, it doesn’t matter what they took, my purse, that is of no value to me,” she said. “The way they made me feel and the way they made him feel, that’s just not fair,” she said. “They shouldn’t be allowed to be free and to do that to somebody else.”
FOX31 Denver has requested the surveillance video and/or photos from Denver Police. We will share them as soon as they are made available.