A churning crowd of more than 100 people — African-Americans, Latinos and whites — stood along the police tape Friday afternoon and craned to see the uncovered body of a young man known in the neighborhood.

More than three hours after a blast of gunfire near the busy intersection of Bruce Randolph Avenue and York Street left two men dead, two wounded and two more on the run, some in the crowd yelled at police officers to cover the body, while the victim’s mother was being comforted by the crowd.

One man, in his late teens or 20s, ducked under the police tape and walked toward the middle of the empty intersection with his arms stretched out like a crucifix.

“Who killed my brother? Who killed my brother?” he wailed at the police and back toward the crowd.

As police began to walk toward him, he was coaxed back across the tape by friends and given comfort. Other young men nearby also were upset, one comforted by a much older woman who said, in part, “I know what you’re thinking. You’re not going to do nothing.”

Daryl Thompson, a neighborhood gang member from 1984 until he became a born-again Christian in 2001, spoke to older women in the crowd telling them to calm their sons.

He gave each one his cellphone number and begged them to have their sons contact him so he could steer them into a gang-prevention program.

“It’s going to go down this summer,” he said, only raising one eyebrow when asked to explain “it.”

Detective John White, police spokesman, said a group of people were hanging out in front of a string of businesses when two other men walked up and opened fire.

The victims have not been named, and police have not characterized the shooting as gang-related, random or related to any of the businesses.

White said the two men who were wounded did not have life-threatening injuries.

One of the victims died where he fell, and another stumbled about 15 feet into Rocky Mountain Wellness East, a medical-marijuana business, and died there.

The intersection normally churns with traffic as customers visit the small businesses. Children from a handful of nearby schools walk along the tree-shaded streets lined with refurbished brick bungalows.

“There are quite a few potential witnesses that were out during the incident,” White said. “We will do our best to speak to each and every one of them.”

At about 5:30 p.m., coroner’s officials arrived and investigators put up black screens to shield the crowd’s view.

White explained that police could not move or cover the body because it could disturb vital evidence and compromise the investigation.

When the shooting happened Friday, Ventura Rodriguez, 48, was a block away working on bicycles with a friend when the barrage of gunfire disrupted a fairly busy street scene, he said.

He yelled at his friend and they ducked for cover. It was over quickly, but Rodriguez stayed hidden until the police came.

“Back when I was growing up, we didn’t have all this shooting,” he said. “It’s these kids. They listen to the wrong people. I’ve tried to keep my sons and nephews away from it. I tell them, ‘Get a job. Nine dollars an hour is better than living like that.’ “

Denver has seen a spate of recent shootings. Two Denver teenagers were shot and killed less than a week apart in March. De’Quan Walker-Smith, 18, was killed near Manual High School on March 19. Isaiah Garcia, also 18, was killed near West 13th Avenue and Knox Court.

On March 9, two people were shot in east Denver: Police found a woman with a gunshot woulnd near 31st Avenue and Columbine Street around 7:10 p.m. About an hour later the same night, a man was shot near East 21st Avenue and Franklin Street.

On May 22, a woman was shot in the wrist during a scuffle between alleged rival gang members in the 2800 block of Fairfax Street.

On Friday, Taysheer Muhamed, who runs a small grocery around the corner, said he had been in front of his store, enjoying the nice weather.

“I heard shooting, shooting, shooting,” he said. “I went inside and called the police.”

Muhamed said that just two weeks ago, Rahim Ahidi, an Afghan refugee who helps him out at the grocery, was wounded during a robbery and later lost his kidney and half his liver. Ahidi has a wife and two children, Muhamed said.

“He left the war over there to come to a war over here,” Muhamed said.

Staff writer Jordan Steffen contributed to this report.

Joey Bunch: 303-954-1176 or jbunch@denverpost.com