On the morning of May 28, 2021, 35-year-old Gary McLaughlin was found in the street in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, near the 1100 block of Sherman Street, after residents heard three gunshots. He was taken to a hospital but died of gunshot wounds. Neighbors who tried to help heard his phone ring; someone answered and later two men arrived, took the phone and fled.

Detectives tied the shooting to a man McLaughlin had met through the Grindr app. Evidence recovered near the scene included shell casings from a custom-assembled ghost gun, a crashed white Mercedes with DNA and fingerprints matching 23-year-old Donald Gonzales, and motion-sensitive camera footage of a person fleeing. Cell phone records placed Gonzales in the area; he told investigators he was exploring his sexuality and alleged McLaughlin attacked him.

In March 2023 a jury convicted Gonzales of second-degree murder, finding he had planned the meeting and was armed. At the time of his death McLaughlin was on parole for a burglary conviction. Does anyone have additional information about McLaughlin’s life or the Sherman Street area that could shed light on what happened that night?