Police investigating suspicious death near downtown Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Colorado Springs Police Department says officers are investigating a suspicious death that happened late Monday night or early Tuesday morning.

Officers were called to a home at 1315 Wood Ave., which is just north of Colorado College. Police told KRDO's Scott Harrison that they had been there since around midnight.

CSPD said that the deceased man had gotten into a physical altercation with another man during a party, according to investigators. When another person separated the two, the deceased man appeared to be having medical difficulties and collapsed.

He died sometime later, despite efforts to revive him.

His identity hasn't been released pending results of an autopsy to determine his cause of death.

Police say no arrests have been made and there's no threat to the public, but the death is still under investigation.

KRDO NewsChannel 13 learned that the house is subdivided into eight apartments. According to a neighbor, the victim was homeless and temporarily living with a tenant in one of two ground-floor units -- apparently a common occurrence at the home.

Another homeless man, Terry Nicks, has a similar living arrangement there.

"I heard some screaming and yelling downstairs," he says. "A couple of my friends told me that someone died. I didn't know him very well, but he was nice. He seemed healthy to me."

A woman who lives in the house asked to remain anonymous says she tried to perform CPR on the victim.

"But someone in that apartment wouldn't let me do it," she says.

The home -- built in 1898 -- is in the historic Old North End Neighborhood, populated with spacious homes constructed around 1900 by millionaires from the gold rush in Teller County.

Some adjacent homeowners express sadness that the home has fallen into disrepair and hasn't been maintained as well as other homes in the neighborhood.

"There are people in and out all the time," a homeowner says.

"That's because they're homeless," Nicks explains. "They're coming to get food or warmth."

The same homeowners say police have made frequent visits to the home, for a variety of reasons.

"But that's not unusual," says Lt. Jim Sokolik. "Especially not for a building with eight separate living units. And we don't know if any of the homeless activity has anything to do with the suspicious death."

Late Monday morning, the victim's brother and two friends went to the home, seeking more answers.

"I'm a friend but was close enough that we were like brothers," says one of the friends. "We've heard conflicting stories about what led to the fight. We want to know what happened to him."

Late Monday evening, KRDO NewsChannel 13 received email messages from a woman identifying herself as the home's owner and asking that her name not be mentioned.

She explains the situation at the home.

"There have been tenants not paying rent," she says. "One (of the tenants) who let the homeless stay there owes roughly $11,000. Some of the tenants have ignored eviction notices. There are going to be major changes and shake-ups."

One of those changes, the owner says, is Colorado Springs Utilities shutting off water to the apartments because the lack of rent money has left water bills unpaid -- and other utilities could be next.

"We have tried to help give people a chance," she says. "But we also have to put our foot down. We have told the tenants who are allowing homeless (people) to stay with them, to stop doing it."