DENVER (KDVR) — As of Monday morning, a handful of LGBTQ businesses and nonprofits across Denver have reported damage to police due to what they believe is targeted vandalism.
“It seems like an intentional attack on us, which is unfortunate,” said John Taylor, vice president of development at the Center on Colfax.
He shared a video with FOX31 that shows a person coming up to the main entrance of the building, pulling out a rock and starting to smash multiple windows before leaving.
“There was a little relief this happened in the middle of the night, so there weren’t community members using the space,” Taylor said.
Members of the center boarded up the windows but then wrote positive messages on the boards to show they said the vandalism doesn’t break their community.
“We wanted to send messages of love and that we won’t be broken by an attack on this space,” Taylor said.
But come Monday, more locations were connected to similar damage on windows, both on cars and buildings, specifically LGBTQ associated spots.
“I think it’s unfortunate in 2025 we still have adults who want to act in a manner that is hateful or angry,” Styler Ells, the owner of Paragon Wellness, said.
They said early Friday morning, they went to their space and found two windows busted in, along with glass everywhere. Ells said three of the other windows also had damage.
“I think the fact that someone did this in the dead of the night shares a lot about their character,” Ells said.
According to Ells, multiple spots all filed individual police reports. At first, they thought it was a one-off incident, but once people started talking, they realized this could all be connected.
“I am more angry than I am scared,” Ells said.
Denver police told FOX31 over the weekend it was investigating what happened at the Center on Colfax. The department stated it didn’t have suspect information at the time. We reached out about the additional vandalism cases and haven’t heard back.
The video is very clear, and Taylor hopes it helps identify who the person is. But he said he wants people not to confront the person in the video but to contact the police instead if they know anything.
“We are encouraging the community to work with police and not try and take matters into their own hands,” Taylor said.
He is also asking the community to report the tips to the police instead of the Center on Colfax.
“We have a security guard in now for the times we are open and having programming in the center,” Taylor said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the police.
Anthony Sutton is a business strategist and writer with a passion for management, leadership, and entrepreneurship. With years of experience in the corporate world, he shares insights on business growth, strategy, and innovation through management-opleiding.org.
