Inset: Jacob Hensley (KUSA/YouTube). Background: The area around the Denver Skatepark, near where Jacob Hensley was shot to death (Google Maps).
A tragic incident unfolded in Denver when a father of four was discovered gravely injured near a local skate park, having suffered five gunshot wounds. The incident occurred shortly after he had a conversation with his wife and then stepped outside. The accused shooter has claimed the act was in self-defense, according to the victim’s spouse.
“He never came back,” expressed Allison Hensley, the widow of Jacob Hensley, during an interview with the local NBC affiliate, KUSA. “It doesn’t add up at all,” she added, questioning the circumstances surrounding her husband’s death.
Jacob Hensley, aged 28, had reportedly been out drinking on the evening of Thursday, May 21, before returning to the apartment he shared with his wife and children, Allison Hensley recounted.
“The kids were going to sleep, and he was stumbling,” she recalled in the interview with KUSA. “I told him he needed to either leave or go to another room.” Subsequently, Jacob decided to head back outside.
Within less than an hour of leaving, authorities found Jacob Hensley critically injured near the Denver Skatepark, located at the junction of 20th and Little Raven Streets. “He was shot five times,” Allison Hensley revealed to KUSA, describing the act as “overkill.”
Allison Hensley said her husband did not drink regularly, so when he did that night he was “so drunk he couldn’t stand up.” She described him as a “great dad” and “amazing person” who was “very intelligent” and “very driven.”
According to her, police allege that Jacob was shot by a person in a car who is claiming self-defense, which she said did not make sense.
“Someone who can’t even stand up and you have a car and a gun,” Allison Hensley said. “I don’t believe that he was attacking anyone. I just don’t. That’s just not who he was.”
Jacob Hensley was known to carry a pocketknife on him that he used for work as a general contractor, but his wife told KUSA he would never threaten someone with it.
“He’s pulling knives on people? That’s insane,” Allison Hensley said. “I hope that there’s justice for my kids,” she told KUSA. “He did not deserve to die.”
Police say when they found Jacob Hensley, he was critically wounded. Paramedics transported him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“Investigators are in contact with everyone involved in this incident,” the Denver Police Department posted on X. “The investigation is ongoing. No arrests at this time.”
Allison Hensley, who was married to Jacob for 10 years, wrote on Facebook that her husband’s death “was sudden and violent.” She said her family is “still trying to process this unimaginable loss.”