Lakewood police arrested a 31-year-old former Brady Exploration High School paraprofessional on suspicion of child sex assault by a person in a position of trust, sexual exploitation of a child and other charges. Related Articles Crime and Public Safety | 25 years later, a Columbine teacher reflects on why she stayed: “We take care of each other” Crime and Public Safety | Over 1,000 customers still without power after Xcel Energy resolves 95% of weekend outages Crime and Public Safety | Five metro Denver schools remain closed due to power outages following windstorm Crime and Public Safet ..read more

Lakewood police are searching for a missing 12-year-old girl who may be planning to leave the state, according to the Lakewood Police Department. Aaliyah Heredia was last seen on April 2. She is described as a 5-foot, 120 pound Hispanic female with brown hair and brown eyes. She has a scar on the right side of her abdomen and was last seen wearing black sweatpants and a pink shirt, according to a Wednesday post on X. She is known to frequent the 2700 block of West Bates Avenue in Denver. Aaliyah has a long history of running away and police believe she may be planning to leave the state ..read more

One man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of arson-related charges after police say he lit a series of small fires in and around Lakewood’s Fox Hollow Golf Course. Firefighters responded to Fox Hollow around 3 p.m. Thursday after golfers noticed several smoke plumes nearby, West Metro Fire Rescue said in a statement on X. The fires — which were set in open spaces and wooded areas around the golf cart paths — burned about 5 acres total, the fire department stated. Fire crews were able to quickly suppress the flames and no damage was done to nearby homes or other structures. The arson suspect w ..read more

A man was killed and a boy was injured in a double shooting near Kipling Street and West Colfax Avenue on Tuesday, according to the Lakewood Police Department. Lakewood police reported the shooting in the 1600 block of Kipling Street in a 7 p.m. post on X. Related Articles Crime and Public Safety | Aurora man sentenced to 52 years in prison for DUI crash that killed mother, daughter Crime and Public Safety | Former Edgewater cop sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual contact, forgery Crime and Public Safety | Former El Paso County deputy who went missing twice in o ..read more

Lakewood’s urban renewal authority has demolished two of the city’s most problematic motels in recent months. The Blue Sky Motel at 6203-6205 W. Colfax Ave. was taken down last month, while the Chalet Motel at 6051 W. Alameda Ave. was demolished in November. It cost the Lakewood Reinvestment Authority $6 million combined to acquire and flatten the two motels, according to city officials. The Blue Sky shut down in fall 2021 and the Chalet in June 2023. Both had become magnets for crime and were determined to be a blight on the community. In 2019, a 32-year-old woman was murdered in on ..read more

A 19-year-old woman suspected in the ambush killing of a pregnant woman in Lakewood turned herself in earlier this month, according to Jefferson County law enforcement. Jaliyah Burks was arrested at the Jefferson County Jail on a Lakewood Police Department arrest warrant on March 7, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and Lakewood police. Burks is one of seven people suspected of ambushing and fatally shooting 21-year-old Melanie Massay in the 1300 block of Zephyr Street around 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 28, 2023. A second person was injured in the shooting but survived, according to Lak ..read more

Two female suspects accused of assaulting a man at a light rail station in February have been identified, according to a Wednesday Lakewood Police Department update on X. One of the suspects, an 18-year-old Denver woman, is expected to turn herself in, police say. The attack happened at 9:17 p.m. on Feb. 13 at the Lakewood-Wadsworth RTD station at 1298 Wadsworth Blvd. According to police, the suspects, the 18-year-old woman and a 15-year-old girl, asked the victim if he had any cigarettes. When the man said no, one of the suspects began yelling at and punching him while holding him down by his ..read more

Douglas County plans to launch a legal challenge of recent state laws that bar local law enforcement in Colorado from closely cooperating with federal immigration officials on the detention and incarceration of immigrants. Leaders of the conservative south metro county have characterized the legal challenge and a proposed ordinance aimed at preventing the busing of migrants to its communities as their response to the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. One commissioner stated that “our first responsibility is to our citizens who are already here legally.” Douglas County’s measures, which ..read more

A Lakewood business that sterilizes medical equipment with cancer-causing ethylene oxide must slash its air emissions after the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday told all companies that use the toxic gas to cut their pollution by 90% within two years. Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies manufactures equipment used in blood donations and transfusions, and in stem cell donations, at a facility located at 11308 W. Collins Ave. in Lakewood. The company sterilizes that equipment with ethylene oxide in a plant on the same campus. In 2022, the EPA announced it was studying ethylene oxide emi ..read more

A 34-year-old Indigenous man has been reported missing and may be in the Denver area, Lakewood police and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said in an alert Wednesday. Related Articles Crime and Public Safety | 17-year-old endangered boy missing in Sherrelwood neighborhood of Adams County Crime and Public Safety | Missing 14-year-old girl from Lakewood found safe Crime and Public Safety | “Other people may be responsible” for Arapahoe County woman’s disappearance, police say Crime and Public Safety | Man reported missing in Douglas County; family hasn’t heard from him in 3 years Crime ..read more