Denver Man Charged With Murder After Fight Over Cutting In Line

DENVER, Colo. (CBS4) - Two men fought of their place in line to receive free socks at an Auraria campus giveaway in September 2020. The altercation led to one man being stabbed to death.

The other man, Gregory Stapleton, has now been charged with murder.

Richard Ford III died at Denver Health Medical Center from his injuries. He was 36 at the time.

The incident happened at the Auraria Higher Education Center at 1155 St. Francis Way. Witnesses told investigators the two men were arguing while in a lunch line about one of them cutting in line earlier to receive socks.

The pair walked out of the building to fight, according to the arrest affidavit in the case. Ford was stabbed in the chest. His heart was fatally damaged.

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Afterward, Stapleton concealed his identity with a medical mask as he fled the area. However, investigators found images from surveillance cameras of Stapleton riding light rail to the campus event while not covering his face. A warrant for his arrest was issued less than a week after the stabbing. It referred to Stapleton as armed and dangerous and a known transient living in the Denver metro area.

Stapleton was arrested last month.

The Denver District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday that Stapleton is facing two counts of 1st Degree Murder and another of Aggravated Robbery. His next court appearance is March 4.

Stapleton's criminal record includes previous arrests in metro Denver for felony menacing, assaults and thefts in metro Denver and Johnson County, Kansas, per the affidavit. Among those cases is a 2010 Denver case in which Stapleton was accused of trying to stab a man following a verbal argument. A jury acquitted Stapleton of felony menacing in that case.

Family members described Ford to investigators as homeless following an assault several years earlier in which he suffered a head injury.