Ex-Denver cop robbed waiting for motel van

A maddening sequence of mishaps, including a canceled flight, had already delayed a retired Denver police officer’s family vacation to Jamaica.

But that frustration didn’t compare to the terror 77yearold Larry Shinofield felt early Wednesday when three gunman burst into the Econo Lodge lobby where he, his wife and two grandsons were waiting for a shuttle bus to Denver International Airport and began yelling and pointing guns.

“It was quite a shock,” Shinofield said. “I never had a gun pointed in my face before.”

Shinofield said he couldn’t help but think that if everything had gone the way they had planned, he and his wife and two grandsons would have already been sleeping in Jamaica.

But thunderstorms had triggered a cancellation of their flight. When they returned to the Hilton Inn, where they had stayed the night before, all of its rooms were filled, so they hauled their luggage two blocks on foot to the Econo Lodge. They woke up and went to the lobby around 3 a.m. to wait for the airport shuttle.

At 3:15 a.m., masked bandits burst into the motel.

“I thought they were just pranksters at first,” Shinofield said. “But then they started yelling and cursing.

Two of the bandits leaped over the motel counter and ordered the clerk to get money. A third bandit, wearing jeans and a dark hoodie, yelled and ordered Shinofield and his family to give him their money and credit cards, he said.

Shinofield said he has a concealed carry gun permit, but he left it at home. In retrospect, he said it probably was a good thing because if he would have pulled the gun the three robbers may have started shooting.

The same robber who took money from Shinofield also demanded money from the another guest who wandered into the lobby.

“He smacked the guy in the face with a haymaker,” Shinofield said.

Within 15 seconds, he said, the three bandits ran out of the front door and disappeared, and Shinofield’s allinclusive vacation was ruined.