A shooting Wednesday afternoon near Denver’s 16th Street Mall left one man dead and another injured and renewed concerns about public safety in the heart of downtown.

As police cordoned off two blocks of Champa Street between 16th and 18th streets, office workers, tourists and homeless people watched and talked about the violence in a public place in broad daylight.

Police officers assigned to the mall through a “Walk the Beat” program aimed at curbing crime responded to the shooting at 2:12 p.m., said Doug Schepman, a police department spokesman.

The fight happened in the parking lot outside the Renaissance Hotel on Champa Street where the victims were shot. Two suspects got on an RTD bus, and police stopped the bus a few blocks away on Champa and detained them, Schepman said.

On Wednesday night, police were still investigating what started the fight. The dead man’s identity was being withheld, pending family notification. Police have not named the suspects because they have not been charged.

As evening fell, crime scene technicians continued to take pictures of clothes, shell casings and other evidence scattered in the hotel parking lot. Across the street, crime scene tape blocked people from walking through blood spatter.

Erika Bailey, who is visiting Denver from Virginia with her husband, said they had just walked down the mall to take shopping bags back to their hotel. They heard sirens and when they came back outside, the streets were roped off.

“I’ll be more aware out here,” Bailey said. “I was just kind of relaxing because it seemed nice and quiet. I don’t feel like I will come back out here tonight.”

Over the summer, violence on the mall became a public concern after two videos went public showing office workers and other pedestrians being attacked. Mayor Michael Hancock blamed it on a “scourge of hoodlums,” who were coming to the city to use marijuana.

In response, the Downtown Denver Partnership hired private security guards to patrol the mall among other changes. And the Denver Police Department permanently assigned more officers to the mall.

The police department will continue to be vigilant, Schepman said.

“This is a highly populated area with a lot of foot traffic,” he said. “It’s fortunate no one else was injured.”

Staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.