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WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. (KDVR) — An anonymous threat has shut down operations at a massive construction site in Wheat Ridge. 

Police said employees found a written threat on the inside of a portable toilet at the site for the SCL Lutheran replacement hospital. The threat mentioned the date of May 5, 2023.

Colby Stodden, senior project manager with Haselden Construction, said he was shocked. 

“It was disturbing,” Stodden said. “You just don’t want to see something like that.”

As a precaution, Stodden said they decided to shut down operations at the site on May 5-6. 

“We want to make sure that all our employees working on the job do understand that safety is our main concern and everyone needs to go home every night to their families,” Stodden said.

Threats cannot be ignored, police say

Commander Jon Pickett, with the Wheat Ridge Police Department, said they take any threat very seriously. 

“The days have gone by where you can ignore a threat, so we have a step-by-step process we go through to determine if it’s credible and what kind of response is called for,” Pickett said. 

Pickett said it is unusual to see this at a job site, but they have responded to threats at medical facilities, including hospitals.

“The threat of what was going to happen and who it was aimed at was ambiguous, so we didn’t have a lot to go on,” Pickett said. “We did have some suspicious activity early that day, so we’re following up with a potential suspect in that.”

Stodden said they have security cameras on site and will be working with Wheat Ridge Police about increasing police presence in the area.

“There is quite a bit of security there, but I think just upping that presence moving forward will really cement that sense of security that we are very serious about this threat,” Stodden said.

Stodden said they do plan to resume operations on Monday. 

“There’s a lot of good morale on the project, a lot of good things happening, and we certainly want to keep that going and finish strong,” Stodden said.

Wheat Ridge Police were still actively investigating the threat on Friday.