DENVER (KDVR) — A shooting outside Coors Field Friday night has some nearby business owners worried about safety in the area.
Lukas Lockett was excited when he and his cousin decided to go into business together. “Wow let’s make it happen,” Lockett said.
They even had the perfect location picked out. “Right by the stadium, foot traffic, everybody’s walking around,” he said.
Coffee is their business. “There’s not a lot of coffee shops in this area so it was a perfect location for us,” he said.
Customers, he added, are abundant: “Patrons, baseball goers, travelers from out of the city.”
It’s been four months since they opened their doors.
“Unexpectedly from the coronavirus you would think we might have had trouble getting started but it’s been pretty well for us, honestly,” he said.
So word of a deadly shooting less than a block away was not welcome news for these entrepreneurs. Lockett said this part of downtown has its share of crime.
“Might just be a little mischief, life graffiti here and there, stuff like that,” he said.
A homicide, he said, changes things. “It’s not a good stigma to have.”
He’s concerned that a certain impression could get out about the area after a deadly shooting. “People listen to that type of stuff,” Lockett said.
It could impact how many customers are coming in and how much product he’s moving.
“You want a safe community, people want to be able to know that when they’re walking to get some coffee that they’re alright,” he said.
Like any concerned business owner, Lockett has some tips of his own for police. “I would like to see probably just more patrol, heavier presence,” he said.
The Denver Police Department told FOX31 patrols will be stepped up in the areas where shootings were reported Friday night.
While a spokesperson for the Colorado Rockies did confirm one victim of the shooting near the ballpark was a concessions employee, they said the circumstances of this incident remain under investigation.