On New Year’s Day 2022, 24-year-old Devonte Phillips was shot and killed inside The Cabin Tap House, a downtown Denver bar. The violence began after an accidental bump on the dance floor that led to a confrontation; Phillips and another man tripped or fell, an argument followed, and Phillips was lured downstairs and assaulted by that man and an unidentified individual. After the group briefly returned upstairs, the situation escalated again when a man later identified as 22-year-old Levi Diecidue began kicking at Phillips and his friends and then produced a handgun, firing at least five shots into the crowded club.

The shooting killed Phillips and another patron, 29-year-old Hiyaw Joya Tesfa Zewdie-Walker, who was nearby and not involved in the dispute. Two other people were wounded. Both victims were found unresponsive and were pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators used the bar’s ID scanner to identify Diecidue, who was arrested in Aurora on January 13, 2022. The Cabin Tap House had its liquor license suspended after the incident. Both Phillips and Zewdie-Walker were parents to young children.

Did anyone in Denver that night see how the altercation began or have information about what happened in the basement?