On the evening of April 26, 2022, three members of a northeast Denver household were found shot to death inside an apartment near 60th Avenue and Ceylon Street. All three were pronounced dead at the scene and the medical examiner ruled their deaths homicides. Investigators recovered numerous spent cartridge casings in the entryway, kitchen, and living room, and found no signs of forced entry, indicating the shootings occurred inside the residence.

Anonymous tips led police to a suspect identified as 24-year-old Elijah Jaquez Hood, described in tips as EJ and reported to be Denise Hood’s nephew. He was located and arrested on May 8, 2022, and charged with three counts of first-degree murder, one count of child abuse resulting in death, and one count of first-degree burglary. The case has left family and neighbors grieving and seeking answers about the motive and relationship tensions that may have preceded the killings.