COLORADO SPRINGS — The path in a series of stabbings near downtown Colorado Springs early Monday includes developed public pedestrian trails and America the Beautiful Park. In the attack, an unidentified suspect cut or slashed a total of eight people while walking from 8th and Cimarron to the intersection of Tejon and Boulder Streets.
Read more on the investigation
To address questions of safety, the nonprofit Trails and Open Space Coalition posted a statement on social media about the incident. The main point: it happened at 1:30 in the morning.
Multiple comments to the post from trail users say they do not feel any less safe, especially during daylight hours.
Parks leaders also point out that local parks close overnight.
"The chance of misuse and inappropriate behaviors in the park of course grows after hours," said Kurt Schroeder with Colorado Springs Parks.
At larger open space parks like Garden of the Gods, Palmer Park, and North Cheyenne Canon park there are gates to discourage after hours entry.
The more people using parks, the better. Park users are among the best resources for spotting and reporting problems at parks. Large groups of park users also have an impact.
"When you've got people in a park doing the right things at the right times that helps to curtail the negative activity that may be going on," Schroeder said.
An example is all the people who flock to Acadia Park in downtown Colorado Springs, when the outdoor ice-skating rink goes in for the holiday season.
Overall, parks in Colorado Springs are very safe.
“There’s some personal responsibility that people have to take,” Schroeder said.
Like walking down a street, or going through a parking lot, especially after dark people should be aware of their surroundings.
