DENVER — Two people were shot and killed during a confrontation with a construction site manager in southwest Denver on Sunday, the Denver Police Department said.
Police said it happened around 1:30 p.m. at a commercial construction site in the area of Belleview Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard. Work is underway there to renovate a closed T.J. Maxx and convert it to a Sprouts Market.
"Preliminarily, it appears a site manager arrived at the location and found two unauthorized people inside, possibly burglarizing the location," police said. "A confrontation between the two unauthorized people and the site manager occurred during which the site manager was assaulted. The site manager pulled out a firearm and shot both individuals."
Police said one person who was shot, a man, died on the scene. The other, a woman, was taken to the hospital, where she died. They were identified Wednesday by the Denver coroner's office as 37-year-old Patience McFall and 40-year-old Timothy Walker. McFall died from a single gunshot wound. Walker was shot multiple times.
Police said the site manager remained on the scene and is cooperating with the investigation. They said no arrests have been made, and no decision has been made about whether charges could be filed.
Attorney Scott Robinson, a 9NEWS legal analyst, said Colorado's so-called "make my day" law -- which allows people to use deadly force inside their own homes -- would not apply in this case.
"The make-my-day law only covers a shooting or use of deadly force inside a dwelling," Robinson said. "That doesn't mean the front porch, or the garage. That means the dwelling."
Robinson also said Colorado law does not allow the use of deadly force to protect property.
"The reality is that this is going to be a case in which self-defense will decide whether it's chargeable or prosecutable," Robinson said. "If the individual who fired the shots had a reasonable belief that he was in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death, then then and only then can he use deadly force."
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