From Investigates
Location Of Murder: Downtown Denver Bus Stop, 17th & Welton
Place Of Employment Before Murder: Denver Hyatt
Hometown: Diorbivol, Senegal
- Convicted Of 1st Degree Murder, Charge Later Thrown Out
- Sentenced Again & Imprisoned In 2002 After Pleading Guilty To Lesser Charges And Being Sentenced
- Paroled May 28, 2009
- Arrested In Denver April 26, 2011, Went Back To Prison
- Released From Prison Nov. 30, 2011
- Shot And Killed By Englewood Police Officers On Feb. 23, 2012
- Convicted Of 1st Degree Murder, Sentenced To Life
Undated photo of Jeremiah Barnum (credit: Department Of Corrections)
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (CBS4) – CBS4 has learned the man shot and killed Thursday night by Englewood Police was Jeremiah Barnum, a white supremacist leader who was convicted in 1999 of murdering a West African immigrant in Denver in a shocking hate crime.
“He went there to engage the officers. He wasn’t shopping at Walgreens,” said Englewood Police Chief John Collins of the Thursday shooting. “As soon as I heard it,
it rang true for me. This does not surprise me whatsoever. They’re all bad actors.”
He said he remembered Barnum’s involvement in the 1997 muder of Oumar Dia.
He said Barnum and other white supremacist gang members are “intent on violence.”
RELATED: Englewood Officers On Leave After Fatal Shooting
Jeremiah Barnum, 38, had been released from prison Nov. 30, 2011, after his most recent stay. Law enforcement authorities had been warned to be on the lookout for Barnum, who they believed was intent on inflicting violence against law enforcement officers.
Englewood police say the man they shot and killed Thursday night appeared to be reaching for a gun when confronted by officers.
An image of the scene of the shooting Thursday night (credit: CBS)
A Denver jury convicted Barnum in the 1997 murder of Oumar Dia in downtown Denver. Dia, a 38-year-old bellhop at a downtown hotel, was waiting at a bus stop at 17th and Welton when Barnum and an accomplice, Nathan Thill, approached him and shot him dead.
Thill is serving a life term for the Dia murder.
Barnum later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was imprisoned for the Dia case from 2002 until he was released on parole in 2009, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections. But he was arrested again in April 2011 on a drug charge and returned to prison for five months until he was released last November.
Prosecutors said Barnum and Thill attacked Dia due to their racist beliefs. While Thill was thought to be the actual shooter, Barnum was convicted on four counts. Dia had a wife and three children in Africa. The attack also left a woman, Jeannie Van Velkinburgh, paralyzed.
Sources tell CBS4 that while in prison, Barnum was a high ranking member of a violent, white supremacist gang called the “211 gang.” Since his release, Barnum had been contacted at least twice by Denver metro area law enforcement.
Englewood police chief Collins said Barnum had been living in Englewood.
“He kept a low profile. He flew below the radar pretty much,” Collins said.
Officers are being warned today to be on guard, that other white supremacists connected to Barnum are unhappy with his death Thursday night and might be inclined to initiate revenge attacks against police.
CBS4 Video Archive Feature
Watch a 30 minute special produced by CBS4 about the aftermath of the 1997 murder. A CBS4 crew traveled to West Africa and to Oumar Dia’s homeland. See in the special how Dia’s life in Denver meant so much to people around the world: Oumar Dia’s Legacy.
