DENVER (KDVR) Local authorities have arrested a man accused of going after people with a machete on a popular running trail near downtown Denver.
Runner Daniel Workman said a man with a machete chased him on a trail north of Denver’s Confluence Park on Monday morning.
“As I passed, he lunged out from right there with a machete (and) barely missed me,” Workman said, gesturing off the side of the trail.
Workman said the man chased him as he alerted others.
“We were running. It was crazy,” Workman said.
In an arrest report, officers said the suspect had gone toward a woman too.
“She believed the suspect was going to harm her with (a) weapon he was holding up towards her,” a Denver police detective wrote.
Gisel Almanza was walking in Denver’s Commons Park, where police say the suspect was arrested. Almanza had recently heard about the incident in Confluence Park.
“I was, like, hesitant. I was like, should I be going out here by myself? Because you don’t know if it’s safe or not anymore,” Almanza said.
Workman told affiliate KDVR that the man appeared to be in a panic and “deranged.”
“Every time I would look at him, he would charge after me,” Workman said.
Police have arrested a 49-year-old man for investigation of second-degree assault and felony menacing in the case.
