5 people found dead in Colorado apartment; baby, adult hospitalized
Crime Scene File Photo.
COMMERCE CITY, Co. - Five adults were found dead in a Colorado apartment on Sunday along with substances described as "illicit narcotics," authorities said. Another adult and a 4 month old child were alive inside the unit.
Commerce City Police Chief Clint Nichols said officers responded to a call of an unconscious party at the North Range Crossings Apartments at 3:45 p.m. Upon entering the apartment they found six adults and an infant.
"While they thought that most of them were unconscious, one of the parties was awake and was transported by medical," he said. The infant was also transported to a hospital.
"Unfortunately, the other five people inside the apartment were deceased," Nichols said.
Of the three women and two males, Nichols said, "There does not appear to be any blunt trauma or any violent incident of any nature."
The fire department was called out to conduct a hazardous gas test, and that was negative.
"There was some substance inside. We don’t know exactly what anything is as of yet," he said.
The next step, Nichols said, is to have the apartment "cleanly swept" and then police will get a search warrant to begin their investigation.
"Again, there were some substances that could be described as illicit narcotics, but again, for me to speculate on that would be improper. I just don’t know," Nichols said. A hazmat team was called to the scene.
He said if there was drug use, they were very bad because no one was able to get to a phone and call 911 for a medical emergency.
Nichols said that he did not know who the victims were but that some of them lived inside the unit.
The infant appears to be doing fine, Nichols said, adding that it was not clear whether the child was a boy or a girl. He said it as unclear if the baby's parents were among the deceased adults found in the apartment.
"I hope the parents were not in there, but I’ve been doing this long enough... it would probably be safe to suggest the parents probably were inside and so for the infant, that’s going to be a long time without parents."
He said the adult was "lucid" and talking to police.
The names and ages of all the victims were not immediately available. The investigation is ongoing.
Commerce City is about 7 miles (11 kilometers) northeast of Denver.