Kenneth Grier, 32, male, Black, spent the early minutes of June 30, 1979 at the King Cole Bar on 1082 Broadway in Denver, where a disturbance flared among multiple patrons. In the confusion, gunshots exploded; Grier was struck and rushed to a local hospital, where he died of his wounds that same day.
Detectives opened a homicide investigation centered on the crowded nightlife scene along Broadway, working to piece together who fired amid the fray and why the confrontation escalated to
gunfire. The official case record fixed the place, date, and circumstances with stark precision: a barroom disturbance, shots fired, a victim fatally wounded, and a city awakened to yet another tragedy.
No arrests have been announced in Grier’s killing, and authorities have not publicly identified a suspect or suspects. The case remains open with appeals for information from anyone who was present or has since learned what happened inside the King Cole Bar that morning.
