Wayne Burkett, father of slain Nicholas Burkett, joins Dan for an exclusive interview on the murder of his son during a stabbing spree on Denver's 16th Street Mall by a 24-year-old deranged maniac. He informs listeners that Mayor Mike Johnston has yet to reach out to him.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Dan Kapls and welcome to today's online podcast
edition of The Dan Kaplis Show. Please be sure to
give us a five star rating if you'd be so kind,
and to subscribe, download and listen to the show every
single day on your favorite podcast platform. Keep fighting, We're winning,
but fight harder E five first or A five A
two five to five The number text d an five
(00:20):
seven seven thirty nine. The evidence of the winning is
all over the place. I think President Trump's been wrong
about one big thing, and that is we are never
going to get tired of winning. I don't think America
is getting tired of winning. Is approval up to at
least of the transition fifty five percent in the latest
CNN poll, And I think the performance of these nominees
(00:41):
is just going to drive it higher and hire More importantly,
I think the great performance of the nominees is a
sign of things to come, because you can't have these
great performances unless first to pick good people, but second
you have them very well prepared. It's a sign of
an organized, focused administration that has a plan and is
in a hurry, and that's what America needs right now. Hey,
(01:03):
I do hope you can join us at five thirty six.
I know it's going to be hard, it's going to
be sad, but it is so important because we are
going to have Wayne Burkette with us at five thirty six.
He's the father of Nicholas Burkett. And if you don't
know that name, and you probably don't know fault yours,
the shame is on the media. The shame is on
(01:24):
the media. The shame is on Mayor Mike Johnston. When
Mayor Mike Johnston took the microphones on Monday in prime time,
the very first thing out of his mouth should have
been the name of Nicholas Burkett, say the name Mayor Johnston. Instead,
Johnston turned it into some kind of obscene backwards victory
(01:44):
lap when he had just had this serial killer loose
on the mall, slitting the throat of a flight attendant,
killing this wonderful young man, butchering him on the mall
more than twenty four hours after the Johnston administration knew
they had a serial killer loose on the mall, slit
the throat of a flight attenant, targeting people for slaughter.
(02:05):
He knew that, and he did not give the public
the kind of warnings the public needed and deserved, because
the only way you could protect the public at that
point was to let them know in every way possible
that there was a serial serial killer targeting the mall.
Because Denver has great police force, but you could put
(02:25):
police every five feet and you knew you could not
protect the public with a serial killer like that. All
they have to do is take out the butcher knife
and kill the person, which is exactly what happened here
when Nicholas Berquett was butchered on Sunday night, more than
twenty four hours later. So we'll have Wayneburkett with us
at five point thirty six. But we are pursuing this
(02:47):
every way we can. I've already filed the core request
for public records. I say request, but you know what,
under the law, Johnston administration has to produce and if
they stonewall us, we will go to court to get it.
You want those records at show what did the mayor know,
when did he know it? Who made this decision, Who
made this decision not to pull out every stop to
(03:08):
warn the public there was a serial killer loose on
the mall? Who made that decision? We know the why,
right wouldn't it look good. Wouldn't look good for mayor
Johnston running for governor whatever else he's running for. Wouldn't
look good, might have hurt business. So a decision was made. Yeah,
just let all of these unsuspecting, innocent people go down
(03:30):
to the mall. When you knew you had a serial
killer on the loose, how does a person get to
that point? So Wayne Burkett will be with us at
five thirty six. Glad you're here. We want to get
you some of that sound from the hearing stay. But
I got to start with this except Biden farewell address
warning about oligarchs, tech oligarchs.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
That's why my farewell addressed to I. I want to
warn the country some things that give me great concern.
This is a dangerous continent. And that's the dangerous conversation
of power in the hands of very few, ultrawealthy people,
the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked. Today,
(04:16):
an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth,
power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy. Are
basic rights and freedoms?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Do you believe that? Do you think there's one person
in America who believes what he just said, and I
think there is not. And the reason for that, in
part is what Trump's treasury nomine has got. Persent pointed
out to one Bernie Sanders today.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
The three billionaires who you listed that all made the
money themselves, That mister Moss came to the country as
an immigrant.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I understand that.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
But what I'm asking you is when you you have
a handful of people like Musk who will soon be
part of the Trump administration and others, When you have
three people owning more wealth than the bottom half of
American society, when these people have enormous influence over the media,
when they spend huge amounts of money in both political
(05:19):
parties to elect candidates. What Biden said last nighte is
we're moving toward an oligochy. I'm asking you that question.
Do you think, forget how they made their money. Do
you think that when so few people have so much
wealth and so much economic and political power, that that
is an oligockic form of society?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Well, I wouldn't note that they President Biden gave the
Presidential Medal of Freedom to two people who I think
would qualify for his oligarchy.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
What's the great point. So the same Biden who just
gave get this, the Medal of Freedom to George Soros,
the Presidential Medal of Freedom to George Soros, he is
now out there complaining about Elon Musk. No, what they
are terrified of is this. You know that the left prevails.
Look at Colorado. A big reason the left has prevailed
(06:07):
in Colorado is big money. Colorado's own little oligarchs. Right.
They had a plan, a blueprint, literally, a book was
written about it. They worked the plan, and the plan
required this big money from the left. Exhibit A is Polish, right.
And he sits there having bought his way into all
these different offices, and in the process, by the way,
(06:28):
steamrolled the woman who would have been the first female
governor of Colorado, Kerry Kennedy. She was on track to
be the first female governor. She was going to be
the Democrat nominee. I disagree with her on policy, but
highly qualified to be governor, and he just steamrolled her. Yeah,
mister enlightenment right, just just blew her right out of
the box with all his money. So Colorado's has its
(06:49):
own little lefty oligarchs. But you know what, I don't
sit here and complain about that, because no matter how
you get your money in Colorado or anywhere else, as
long as it's legal, you have a right to go
out there use that money, you know, to try to
get the people you want elected. So I don't complain
about the left spending its money in Colorado. Just tried
(07:09):
to find ways to get them out of office so
they can stop hurting the state. And yeah, that is
the story of Colorado is lefties with money, you know,
making their plan work because they have all that money.
And so now that the Musk is in a position,
I'm not saying Elon Musk is going to drop into
(07:29):
Colorado and turn all of it around. Maybe he will,
but Elon Musk playing a very big role in saving
America through the election of Donald Trump. He is in
a position now on his own to level the playing
field with money, and he's willing to spend that money
that has been a great thing for America. I'm not
saying I agree with him on every policy. I'm sure
I don't. I don't even know where he's at on
(07:50):
every policy. I just know we needed Donald Trump elected
and he was a big part of getting Trump elected.
And he's going to be a big part of Trump's
success in office because he's made it clear he'll help
fund primaries against any Republican who opposes the Trump nominees.
And that's part of now getting what we need, a
fast start for the Trump administration. I'm sure I'll disagree
(08:12):
with them on certain policy issues here and there, but
the point is now the GOP is leveling the electoral
playing field, at least in some places, starting with the
pretty good one nationally, leveling that playing field when it
comes to cash, and the Left just can't handle it.
So I actually like it when Biden and the Left
say silly things like Sanders just walked into that punch
(08:33):
from Bassent and Biden at that point just entertaining America
with that last night, because it shows they're panicking. Same
thing with Michelle Obama skipping the inauguration. That's a great
thing because it shows the Left is thoroughly defeated, thoroughly defeated,
and symbolically it's a great thing for America because again,
(08:55):
can't even show up, won't even show up. It's also
a great thing for America because shall Obama is the
very best candidate the Democrats have, and she really hurts
herself by not showing up for the inauguration. Texter, Dan,
I really appreciate you going after the records of what
did the mayor know and when did he know? It's
so important? Thank you. Yeah, and hey, those are records.
(09:16):
When you look at the Colorado Open Records Act, and
I've been using it for years, those are records this
administration will have no good reason to withhold. What do
you think the chances are, Ryan that I'm going to
have to end up in court on that? And you
are a betting man. If this was up on MGM tonight,
where would you put your hard earned narrow? I have
said this time and again.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
If I see Dan Kaplis's name or law firm on
the docket, I'm asking, what do we have to do
to keep this out of court?
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Well you are a very very kind man, but yeah, listen,
I just given the pattern, given the pattern, I would
expect we're going to have to end up in court.
Not because it should have to go to court, but
because you know, it's what the old Peter Boyle saying,
if you knew where you were going to die, you
wouldn't go there. I don't think the Johnston administration is
going to give the records up without a court ordering
them to do it. But can we go back to
(10:05):
Michelle Obama for a moment. I would love to, but
can we hit this break first. That's a great tease.
Thank you for that great tease you handed me. And
on a very very very serious note, Wayne Burkett, the
father of Nicholas Burkett, the young man who was butchered
to death on the Sixteenth Street Mall Sunday night, more
than twenty four hours after the Johnston administration knew they
(10:25):
had a serial killer targeting the mall. Mister Burkett will
join us at five point thirty six here on the
Dan Capla Show.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
And now back to the Dan Kaplas Show podcast.
Speaker 7 (10:37):
I love the exchange just a moment ago with Senator
Herno was illustrative.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Good word.
Speaker 7 (10:44):
She asked you how you would respond if the president
asked you to target his political enemies. Rather striking because
it's not a hypothetical. It has happened over the last
four years, and I think perhaps the most tragic legacy
of the Biden Harris administration has been the politicization and
(11:05):
the weaponization of the United States Department of Justice. And
we don't need to ask hypothetically, because Joe Biden publicly
mused and allowed the New York Times to report it,
calling on Merrick Garland, why will he not prosecute Trump
more quickly? And Merrick Garland sadly, he sat in that
chair and promised to be a political and he broke
(11:27):
that promise almost the instant he walked into the Department
of Justice.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Ted Cruz, you know, who's always been good, But I
think Ted Cruz is really kind of reaching his pinnacle.
So many good things are aligning right now. Glad you're here,
eight five five for zero five eight two five five
the number. I hope you do join us at five
thirty six because the good things that are aligning nationally. Unfortunately,
it's the opposite in Colorado, because Colorado's under leftist rule.
(11:55):
And you see the real world effects of that in
so many horrific ways, in including this mass killing on
the mall over the weekend. Understand this monster who was
determined to kill everybody that he stabbed, the flight attendant
whose throat he cut, the thirty four year old young
man who was butchered a full day later after the
(12:17):
Johnston administration did not do the type of five alarm
fire warnings there should have been to the public stay
away from the mall we have a serial killer, or
at least warn the public. Hey, understand if you come
to the mall, there's a serial killer targeting the mall.
And we will have the father of that thirty four
year old, that innocent thirty four year old butchered on
(12:37):
the mall. We will have his father with us at
five thirty six. The young man whose life was unnecessarily lost,
Nicholas Burkette, and his father, Wayne Burkette, will join us.
So it'll be hard, it'll be important, though, so we
look forward to him joining us at five thirty six. Texters, Dan,
(13:01):
the first time I heard your show was with Silverman.
I listened to you every afternoon until I left Colorado
in two thousand and eight. While that show started in
two thousand and four. The point counterpoint was perfect Gina
in Springfield, So thank you, Gina, Thank you very much
for that. Dan. I think it's more accurate to call
the sixteenth Street mall killer a spree killer, not a
(13:22):
serial killer. Thank you, Texter. You are in fact correct,
and from now on I'll refer to the monster as
a spree killer, and the reason that the texture is
correct is a serial killing, arguably by definition, occurs over
a long period of time. A spree killer is a killer,
as the word sounds, who is on a killing spree
(13:44):
and is going to keep killing in a short period
of time until they are stopped. And the texter, I think,
strengthens the point because he's right or she's right. This
was a spree killer, which was even more reason why
the Johnston administration needed to immediately do whatever it took,
whatever it took to let everybody in Colorado know that
(14:07):
the mall right, now, we have a spree killer. I
tried to kill three within an hour, slit the throat
of one and did kill her, and we don't have
them because at that point people would be forewarned, they
would know, and they had every right to know that. Instead, Yeah,
there was a little news report, but there wasn't the
effort to warn people, not the kind of effort you
(14:27):
can be sure that Johnston administration would have given to
every one of their own family members if they thought
they might be going to the mall. I sit here, Ryan,
and I'm absolutely furious because I know my daughter, she
works in our firm. She's a genius, she has this
great circle of friends. There's a very good chance they
could have been down on the mall, down in the
(14:48):
Loto area of the mall somewhere that night, and the
thought that Mike Johnston would sit there and say, listen,
this is my assumption, right, but it seems like a
pretty reasonable one that the mayor had to know. The
mayor had to know by early Saturday evening there was
his spree killer on the mall. That the Johnston administration
(15:08):
would have allowed my daughter and everybody else out there,
including Nicholas Burkeett thirty four, to just unknowingly go down
to the mall without making sure they knew, or doing
everything only possible to make sure they knew there was
a spree killer on the loose they had not yet apprehended,
and every reason to believe the spree killer was going
(15:29):
to continue to try to kill on the mall as
he did. Yeah. To me, I can't think of a
word strong enough, ryan, immoral, obscene, not strong enough to
capture what was done to the people of Denver and
Colorado and mister Burchad who paid with his life, so
his father joins us at five thirty six. Dan Kaplist
(15:55):
and Silman was such a great show. I love the
back and forth, but fo Craig softened his stance to
AE as time went on. Perhaps I'm not remembering correctly,
but I felt you started rubbing off on Craig. I'd
loved your capitalists and someone again talk about some brain
power decay in Broomfield. Thank you, Dkay. It listened there.
There is no doubt that that. You know, part of
the end of that show was that Craig and I
(16:17):
started to agree more often. But I will guarantee you
one thing. You can be one thousand percent sure of
that that when Craig changed his positions, it was not
because of me. It was in spite of me, right,
I mean so, no, no, it was not that. But
Craig experienced what I experienced when I came on air. Okay,
(16:38):
I came on air as a Democrat back in nineteen
ninety one, and I was very well intentioned, believed I
was right, and some things I was right about and
haven't changed. I was a pro life Democrat. But then
when you're on air and there's nowhere to hide and
you have smart people calling the show every day pointing
out where you're wrong. You have a choice. You can
(17:00):
either look like an idiot or you can change your
view on what you've been wrong about. And that's what
happened to me. I started on air as a Democrat,
and within a couple of years I was unaffiliated, and
then within a couple of years I was a Republican.
And it was just the truth that led me there,
because on air, there's nowhere to hide. I think the
(17:23):
same thing happened there with with Craig. It wasn't me
convincing him of anything, it was it was just and
I respected, you know, the intellectual honesty there in making
those moves. But yeah, I think the show lost a
little something with that when we weren't disagreeing as much.
So Ryan, who can we bring in here to just
(17:43):
disagree with all the time in kind of a fun way.
Well we tried that and it didn't go very well, not
for the other person. So when we come back mister Burkett,
and that was a nice gentleman who came out in
for one show and I thought it was a very
entertaining show. But I think he moved out of state.
(18:05):
Didn't you know. I'm kitting he was wonderfully did a
very good job for his side. It's just no matter
how smart and articulate you are, when you're wrong and
the facts prove you wrong, there's no where to hide
when we come back. Wayne Burkett, the father of Nicholas Burkett,
who was killed on the mall Sunday night.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
You're listening to the Dan Kaplis Show podcast.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
We're grateful for the opportunity to go to the VIP
line now and speak with mister Wayne Burkett. It is
his son, Nicholas, just thirty four years old, who was
killed Sunday night on the sixteenth Street Mall in Denver
as part of this vicious crime spree. Mister Burkett, thank
(18:47):
you for spending time with us this afternoon.
Speaker 8 (18:50):
Thank you, Dan, thank you for hearing my story.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yes, and please do tell us that if you would
start with telling us about your.
Speaker 8 (18:56):
Son, well, you know, he's always you know, had his troubles.
You know, he he's a mentally mentally ill person and
he has he had a drug addiction similar to the
perpetrator the knife wielding may act that killed him. Yeah,
(19:17):
but you know, yeah, he has the same condimental issues,
and it seems like that's not an excuse for it
because he was gentle, right, you know, he didn't hurt nobody, right,
so you know, it just it just seems like they're
going to try to fall back on that, and it's
really just devastating that. But we do want justice for Nicholas,
and he wasn't No, he was loved by a lot
(19:40):
of people.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
You're right, I mean right, I think everybody listening probably
has some mental illness in their family and can relate
to what you're saying. Just gentle, wonderful people, loved by many,
and and so please do tell us more, tell us
more about your son if you would, And then what
brought him to them all that night? But anything you
(20:03):
can share with us about that, because you know, I
think there are a lot of outraged people.
Speaker 8 (20:10):
Yeah, well what brought him to them all that night
was But I've just told you he's got his trouble, right,
and he was probably down there for the same reason
that guy was down there because that's the only place
to go. Yeah, Yeah, that's where everybody like that goes.
And there's not really much for them in this town.
(20:33):
And so that's what they do down there. They you know,
they congregate. I doubt that they knew each other. They
were ten years apart, but they had similar troubles and
they were both down there dealing with their troubles. And
it's just unfortunate, and that's what got him down there,
and it's by choice. We've tried everything we could to
(20:55):
get him to clean up and come in out of
the cold. He just, you know, seemed like I was
just his choice and lifestyle. We couldn't talk him out
of what he was doing, you know. So that's what
was going on with Nicholas, and a lot of people
really loved him, and you know that's probably going to
come out, and then we're going to have a vigil
for him tomorrow and the place where he was stabbed
(21:16):
at sixteenth and FLOSSI you know, tomorrow afternoon.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Can you share the time on that or is it
more private family only?
Speaker 8 (21:26):
Anybody's welcome to attend if they'd like to. I think
what time are we going to start the vigil? Three pm?
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Well, thank you and Wayne Burkette, our guests so kind
to spend time with us. His beloved son, Nicholas murdered
on the Mall Sunday night, a full more than twenty
four hours after the city knew they had a spree
killer on the loose. And sir, it's not as if
your son chose to go to what should have been
considered a dangerous place. He went to the sixteenth Street
(22:00):
mall where people should have a right to believe that
they're not going to be murdered.
Speaker 8 (22:06):
Right, And you know, we've spent a lot of time
there as a family. It's a place that we've always
gone to and we've never felt unsafe down there. There's
always been you know, a wide range cast of character.
There's a lot of character down there, but we never
felt unsafe like that.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Is there anything, mister Briquette, you can share with people
about what you've been told about how that the brutal
taking of your son's life came down, because so many
of us feel that it's outrageous that there weren't these
five alarm fire warnings given to everybody, including your son,
(22:47):
that there was a spree killer on the loose.
Speaker 8 (22:50):
Yeah, see what had happened is the first three victims
happened the day before, the before, and you know, he
had cut a seventy one year old woman's throat, and
he stabbed the guy that was in a wheelchair, and
then another guy or well, I'm not sure who all
the other victims are. And we're just still trying to
(23:11):
sort this out. And then you know, the next day
they knew they had a spree killer running around, and
I think they kind of knew who he was, but
they didn't know where he was. And then when he
was finally spotted after he murdered my son, and he
basically that was the last person he killed that there
(23:34):
was no warning from the I don't have any witness
reports or anything, but he was pronounced dead on arrival
at the He received a severe laceration to his back.
He was stabbed. You know, it's a horrible set of circums.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
I cannot have every parent listening, sir, It's just everybody's worse.
Can't even imagine what you're going through. And have you
heard from the mayor.
Speaker 8 (24:06):
I haven't heard from the mayor. I've had, you know,
a wonderful outreach from the you know, the Denver Police
and the victims outreach, and you know, so so far,
everybody has been really good, you know, the media especially. Yeah,
I can commend everybody for that, and I hope to
maybe hear from the mayor. I mean, you know, all
(24:28):
politics aside, I probably don't align with his politics, but
you know, besides that, there might be some issues I'd
like to discuss with him. You know, maybe we shouldn't
be providing shooting galleries for these people, and maybe they
should be provided with more mental health issues care the
way that the things used to be. The less of
(24:50):
an institution. I don't know, I don't know what the
answer is. But there's a lot of people on on
the streets that are just they mentally should not be there,
psychologically not capable of taking care of themselves or even
you know, being out there. And there's a lot of them.
And my son was wild them and he was medicating
(25:10):
himself with drugs. Whatever his heartaches were and whatever his
psychological problems were, he just only turned to drugs. Yeah,
a lot of people do.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
That is so true. But he did not, he did
not put himself in harm's way here. He went down
to the sixteenth Street mall, where people have a right
to believe they're not going to be murdered. Yeah, And
I'm just so sorry for your loss and this may
this may be an inappropriate question, especially so early. And
(25:41):
if you don't want to talk about it now, we
can get together again later if you'd like. But have
you given any thoughts to what you want to see
happen to the individual who took your son's life.
Speaker 8 (25:55):
Oh, I'm aware of the maximum Colorado, and me and
my wife, both his mom, we feel that that's probably
not enough, and that you know, being a knife wheeld lunatic,
being a lunatic doesn't make you not culpable, right, because
(26:20):
a lot of people are crazy and they don't stab nobody,
that's right. So I'd like to see, you know, if
he truly is not capable of understanding right for wrong,
but that's the standard in most cases, well then that
would come out in court. But I do want justice
to be served fairly and promptly. Yeah, you know, and
(26:44):
I hope he gets what he deserves after the assessment
of a jury.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah, well, sir, thank you for this time. And is
there a way for people to help, maybe help with
funeral expenses or anything else.
Speaker 8 (26:59):
Yeah, he has a gofund me set up and it's
honoring Nicholas Burchette's memory at the GoFundMe site.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Well we will, we will look that up and then
we'll share that information in the next segment, and we'll
share it tomorrow as well, and you know, we'll be
thinking of you individual and obviously in all of our
prayers and just so sorry for what you're going through.
Speaker 8 (27:26):
I really appreciate your concern about this case.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Well, thank you, sir, you take care, thank you, thank you.
That is mister Wayne Burkett, father of thirty four year
old Nicholas Burkett, who should still be alive. That there
there is no excuse for this. You know, you have
a spree killer on the loose in the mall, and
I'm not blaming police. You could have police every five
(27:52):
feet and and and with a psycho killer like this
that they're going to find a way to kill. But
everybody in Colorado deserved to be notified that there was
a spree killer loose on the mall and where were
those big warnings. But we'll get that info to you
on the other side about the GoFundMe and how you
(28:13):
can help if you'd like to do that, and I
hope that you do. You're on the Dan Kapla Show.
Speaker 6 (28:20):
And now back to the Dan Kapla Show Podcast.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Oh thank you man, and thank you to Hugh and
Kelly for arranging. You have mister Burkett join us. If
you just joined us, thank you. But Wayne Burkett, the
father of thirty four year old Nicholas Burkett, who was
butchered to death by that spree killer on the Sixteenth
Street Mall, was kind enough to join us in the
last segment. And just a heartbreaking story and just such
(28:47):
an unnecessary death. Twenty four hours after the Johnston administration
knew there was a spree killer loose on the mall,
Nicholas loses his life. Don't blame law enforcement. The public
needed to know. There needed to be five alarm fire warnings.
Everybody needed to know there was a spree killer targeting
(29:08):
the mall that they didn't have yet. It's the only
way people could have protected themselves. Mister Righett told us
that he hasn't received police reports, et cetera yet, but
I believe you mentioned that Nicholas had been stabbed in
the back, so probably never had any chance whatsoever. But
nobody going down there at a chance because they weren't warned.
(29:29):
So all those people who were at the Mall along
with Nicholas on Sunday and Sunday night unless they had
happened to see one of these fairly low level news
reports out there. There needed to be full warnings. You
can bet anybody in that Johnston administration they were warning
their family members who might have been thinking to go
into the mall. Everybody in the public deserved that kind
(29:50):
of warning. But mister Burqatt very moving and talked about
Nicholas and Nicholas's struggles. But it's not like you. He
went to a dangerous place. He went to the sixteenth
Street MA and as I mentioned to mister Burkett, every
reason to believe he wouldn't be murdered there. But that
family does need help with the funeral expenses. The go
(30:12):
fundme honoring Nicholas Burkett's memory Nicholas's n I C H
O L A. S. Burkett b U R K E
T T. And there's this very uh just heartbreaking picture
of him as a little boy. And you know, mister
Burkett talked openly, he offered it up about his own
son's struggle with drugs and how loved he was, how
(30:33):
gentle he was, and the point he makes is such
a great one. We all know people, right, almost all
of us have family members mental illness. I do, and
my brother just the greatest guy you'll ever meet, you know.
He's very mentally ill, disabled by it, but a gentle soul,
loving soul. And it's not like somebody has mental illness
(30:54):
they're going to go out and kill somebody. No, this
killer killed because he's a killer. And the dad described
Nicholas is a very gentle, loved, thirty four year old.
So I'll tweet out this GoFundMe as well as soon
as the show ends here. So if it's easier for
you to get it, if you are interested, and I
hope you consider it, it'll that you can just pull
(31:15):
it off of off of Twitter at Dan Kaplis on Twitter,
textor Dan sending love, hugs and prayers to the family
and friends of Nicholas Burquette. So painful, completely avoidable, that
is the point, that's right, Alexa, completely available, And I'm
telling you I've already got the CORA filed. And if
(31:36):
Johnston administration won't give up these documents to tell us
what the mayor knew and when he knew it, who
made that decision? Not to go out and truly warn
the public. Then I'll go to court to get those
because the public has a right to know. And that's
the thing, right is. We sit here and we were
helpless to save that flight attendant from having her throat slit.
(32:00):
We were helpless to save Nicholas at the time. We
were helpless to help the man in the wheelchair who
the spree killer tried to kill. Probably thought he had
helpless to help the other victim who was attacked by
the spree killer. But there are things we can do
to try to prevent it from happening again. And one
of those things is to expose the people who made
(32:23):
the decision to leave the people of Colorado in danger,
because that is the only chance Nicholas or anybody else
had to protect themselves was to be told there's a
spree killer targeting them all and he's on the loose. Ryan,
what do you take away from that conversation.
Speaker 6 (32:43):
I was on the edge of my seat just listening.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
I thought he was tremendously composed, much more so, I
think than I would have been, or maybe Manning in
our audience would have been. But I think he realized
that his son had problems, and he was very real
about that. I thought that was very noble of him,
like you said, to be honest and to share that.
But I'm with him. I mean, justice needs to be
served here. The killer did what he did, drugs, mental
(33:09):
illness or not. There are other reasons and why that
person was on the streets despite a lengthy history of
mental illness and episodes and incidents. And I applaud your
efforts Dan to get to the bottom of this because
the people have a right to know. Because what angers
me the most is Mike Johnson wouldn't have been so flippant,
(33:30):
wouldn't have been so dismissive of this if God forbid
it had happened to his wife, daughter, sister, mother, somebody
that he cared about. But all he wanted to do
was turn it into a chamber of commerce, pitch that
Denver was safe, but for this incident.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
No, just one of the most obscene things we've ever
seen in And I did ask mister Burquette whether he's
heard from the mayor. He said no, he said no,
that's criminal. Imagine that awful. Great praise for the Denver police,
well deserved. But why didn't why hasn't he heard from
the mayor. I mean first before the mayor went out
Ryan to that street corner to do a quote, well,
(34:07):
I call it a victory lap. He should have called
mister Burkett.
Speaker 5 (34:10):
He should just get me the names of the family
these victims. That's the first thing I'm gonna do is
call them right now.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
To do it now, that's one of the most revealing
things imaginable to not put a call in to mister
Burkett but instead choose to go down to sixteenth Street
Mall and just prance around with some obscene victory lap
where there had been a dead body of a flight
attendant with their throats slit just hours before. Yeah, the
(34:39):
gofund me is up at dan caplis on Twitter. Thank
you Ryan, Thank you Kelly.
This is Dan Kapls and welcome to today's online podcast
edition of The Dan Kaplis Show. Please be sure to
give us a five star rating if you'd be so kind,
and to subscribe, download and listen to the show every
single day on your favorite podcast platform. Keep fighting, We're winning,
but fight harder E five first or A five A
two five to five The number text d an five
(00:20):
seven seven thirty nine. The evidence of the winning is
all over the place. I think President Trump's been wrong
about one big thing, and that is we are never
going to get tired of winning. I don't think America
is getting tired of winning. Is approval up to at
least of the transition fifty five percent in the latest
CNN poll, And I think the performance of these nominees
(00:41):
is just going to drive it higher and hire More importantly,
I think the great performance of the nominees is a
sign of things to come, because you can't have these
great performances unless first to pick good people, but second
you have them very well prepared. It's a sign of
an organized, focused administration that has a plan and is
in a hurry, and that's what America needs right now. Hey,
(01:03):
I do hope you can join us at five thirty six.
I know it's going to be hard, it's going to
be sad, but it is so important because we are
going to have Wayne Burkette with us at five thirty six.
He's the father of Nicholas Burkett. And if you don't
know that name, and you probably don't know fault yours,
the shame is on the media. The shame is on
(01:24):
the media. The shame is on Mayor Mike Johnston. When
Mayor Mike Johnston took the microphones on Monday in prime time,
the very first thing out of his mouth should have
been the name of Nicholas Burkett, say the name Mayor Johnston. Instead,
Johnston turned it into some kind of obscene backwards victory
(01:44):
lap when he had just had this serial killer loose
on the mall, slitting the throat of a flight attendant,
killing this wonderful young man, butchering him on the mall
more than twenty four hours after the Johnston administration knew
they had a serial killer loose on the mall, slit
the throat of a flight attenant, targeting people for slaughter.
(02:05):
He knew that, and he did not give the public
the kind of warnings the public needed and deserved, because
the only way you could protect the public at that
point was to let them know in every way possible
that there was a serial serial killer targeting the mall.
Because Denver has great police force, but you could put
(02:25):
police every five feet and you knew you could not
protect the public with a serial killer like that. All
they have to do is take out the butcher knife
and kill the person, which is exactly what happened here
when Nicholas Berquett was butchered on Sunday night, more than
twenty four hours later. So we'll have Wayneburkett with us
at five point thirty six. But we are pursuing this
(02:47):
every way we can. I've already filed the core request
for public records. I say request, but you know what,
under the law, Johnston administration has to produce and if
they stonewall us, we will go to court to get it.
You want those records at show what did the mayor know,
when did he know it? Who made this decision, Who
made this decision not to pull out every stop to
(03:08):
warn the public there was a serial killer loose on
the mall? Who made that decision? We know the why,
right wouldn't it look good. Wouldn't look good for mayor
Johnston running for governor whatever else he's running for. Wouldn't
look good, might have hurt business. So a decision was made. Yeah,
just let all of these unsuspecting, innocent people go down
(03:30):
to the mall. When you knew you had a serial
killer on the loose, how does a person get to
that point? So Wayne Burkett will be with us at
five thirty six. Glad you're here. We want to get
you some of that sound from the hearing stay. But
I got to start with this except Biden farewell address
warning about oligarchs, tech oligarchs.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
That's why my farewell addressed to I. I want to
warn the country some things that give me great concern.
This is a dangerous continent. And that's the dangerous conversation
of power in the hands of very few, ultrawealthy people,
the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked. Today,
(04:16):
an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth,
power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy. Are
basic rights and freedoms?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Do you believe that? Do you think there's one person
in America who believes what he just said, and I
think there is not. And the reason for that, in
part is what Trump's treasury nomine has got. Persent pointed
out to one Bernie Sanders today.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
The three billionaires who you listed that all made the
money themselves, That mister Moss came to the country as
an immigrant.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I understand that.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
But what I'm asking you is when you you have
a handful of people like Musk who will soon be
part of the Trump administration and others, When you have
three people owning more wealth than the bottom half of
American society, when these people have enormous influence over the media,
when they spend huge amounts of money in both political
(05:19):
parties to elect candidates. What Biden said last nighte is
we're moving toward an oligochy. I'm asking you that question.
Do you think, forget how they made their money. Do
you think that when so few people have so much
wealth and so much economic and political power, that that
is an oligockic form of society?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Well, I wouldn't note that they President Biden gave the
Presidential Medal of Freedom to two people who I think
would qualify for his oligarchy.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
What's the great point. So the same Biden who just
gave get this, the Medal of Freedom to George Soros,
the Presidential Medal of Freedom to George Soros, he is
now out there complaining about Elon Musk. No, what they
are terrified of is this. You know that the left prevails.
Look at Colorado. A big reason the left has prevailed
(06:07):
in Colorado is big money. Colorado's own little oligarchs. Right.
They had a plan, a blueprint, literally, a book was
written about it. They worked the plan, and the plan
required this big money from the left. Exhibit A is Polish, right.
And he sits there having bought his way into all
these different offices, and in the process, by the way,
(06:28):
steamrolled the woman who would have been the first female
governor of Colorado, Kerry Kennedy. She was on track to
be the first female governor. She was going to be
the Democrat nominee. I disagree with her on policy, but
highly qualified to be governor, and he just steamrolled her. Yeah,
mister enlightenment right, just just blew her right out of
the box with all his money. So Colorado's has its
(06:49):
own little lefty oligarchs. But you know what, I don't
sit here and complain about that, because no matter how
you get your money in Colorado or anywhere else, as
long as it's legal, you have a right to go
out there use that money, you know, to try to
get the people you want elected. So I don't complain
about the left spending its money in Colorado. Just tried
(07:09):
to find ways to get them out of office so
they can stop hurting the state. And yeah, that is
the story of Colorado is lefties with money, you know,
making their plan work because they have all that money.
And so now that the Musk is in a position,
I'm not saying Elon Musk is going to drop into
(07:29):
Colorado and turn all of it around. Maybe he will,
but Elon Musk playing a very big role in saving
America through the election of Donald Trump. He is in
a position now on his own to level the playing
field with money, and he's willing to spend that money
that has been a great thing for America. I'm not
saying I agree with him on every policy. I'm sure
I don't. I don't even know where he's at on
(07:50):
every policy. I just know we needed Donald Trump elected
and he was a big part of getting Trump elected.
And he's going to be a big part of Trump's
success in office because he's made it clear he'll help
fund primaries against any Republican who opposes the Trump nominees.
And that's part of now getting what we need, a
fast start for the Trump administration. I'm sure I'll disagree
(08:12):
with them on certain policy issues here and there, but
the point is now the GOP is leveling the electoral
playing field, at least in some places, starting with the
pretty good one nationally, leveling that playing field when it
comes to cash, and the Left just can't handle it.
So I actually like it when Biden and the Left
say silly things like Sanders just walked into that punch
(08:33):
from Bassent and Biden at that point just entertaining America
with that last night, because it shows they're panicking. Same
thing with Michelle Obama skipping the inauguration. That's a great
thing because it shows the Left is thoroughly defeated, thoroughly defeated,
and symbolically it's a great thing for America because again,
(08:55):
can't even show up, won't even show up. It's also
a great thing for America because shall Obama is the
very best candidate the Democrats have, and she really hurts
herself by not showing up for the inauguration. Texter, Dan,
I really appreciate you going after the records of what
did the mayor know and when did he know? It's
so important? Thank you. Yeah, and hey, those are records.
(09:16):
When you look at the Colorado Open Records Act, and
I've been using it for years, those are records this
administration will have no good reason to withhold. What do
you think the chances are, Ryan that I'm going to
have to end up in court on that? And you
are a betting man. If this was up on MGM tonight,
where would you put your hard earned narrow? I have
said this time and again.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
If I see Dan Kaplis's name or law firm on
the docket, I'm asking, what do we have to do
to keep this out of court?
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Well you are a very very kind man, but yeah, listen,
I just given the pattern, given the pattern, I would
expect we're going to have to end up in court.
Not because it should have to go to court, but
because you know, it's what the old Peter Boyle saying,
if you knew where you were going to die, you
wouldn't go there. I don't think the Johnston administration is
going to give the records up without a court ordering
them to do it. But can we go back to
(10:05):
Michelle Obama for a moment. I would love to, but
can we hit this break first. That's a great tease.
Thank you for that great tease you handed me. And
on a very very very serious note, Wayne Burkett, the
father of Nicholas Burkett, the young man who was butchered
to death on the Sixteenth Street Mall Sunday night, more
than twenty four hours after the Johnston administration knew they
(10:25):
had a serial killer targeting the mall. Mister Burkett will
join us at five point thirty six here on the
Dan Capla Show.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
And now back to the Dan Kaplas Show podcast.
Speaker 7 (10:37):
I love the exchange just a moment ago with Senator
Herno was illustrative.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Good word.
Speaker 7 (10:44):
She asked you how you would respond if the president
asked you to target his political enemies. Rather striking because
it's not a hypothetical. It has happened over the last
four years, and I think perhaps the most tragic legacy
of the Biden Harris administration has been the politicization and
(11:05):
the weaponization of the United States Department of Justice. And
we don't need to ask hypothetically, because Joe Biden publicly
mused and allowed the New York Times to report it,
calling on Merrick Garland, why will he not prosecute Trump
more quickly? And Merrick Garland sadly, he sat in that
chair and promised to be a political and he broke
(11:27):
that promise almost the instant he walked into the Department
of Justice.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Ted Cruz, you know, who's always been good, But I
think Ted Cruz is really kind of reaching his pinnacle.
So many good things are aligning right now. Glad you're here,
eight five five for zero five eight two five five
the number. I hope you do join us at five
thirty six because the good things that are aligning nationally. Unfortunately,
it's the opposite in Colorado, because Colorado's under leftist rule.
(11:55):
And you see the real world effects of that in
so many horrific ways, in including this mass killing on
the mall over the weekend. Understand this monster who was
determined to kill everybody that he stabbed, the flight attendant
whose throat he cut, the thirty four year old young
man who was butchered a full day later after the
(12:17):
Johnston administration did not do the type of five alarm
fire warnings there should have been to the public stay
away from the mall we have a serial killer, or
at least warn the public. Hey, understand if you come
to the mall, there's a serial killer targeting the mall.
And we will have the father of that thirty four
year old, that innocent thirty four year old butchered on
(12:37):
the mall. We will have his father with us at
five thirty six. The young man whose life was unnecessarily lost,
Nicholas Burkette, and his father, Wayne Burkette, will join us.
So it'll be hard, it'll be important, though, so we
look forward to him joining us at five thirty six. Texters, Dan,
(13:01):
the first time I heard your show was with Silverman.
I listened to you every afternoon until I left Colorado
in two thousand and eight. While that show started in
two thousand and four. The point counterpoint was perfect Gina
in Springfield, So thank you, Gina, Thank you very much
for that. Dan. I think it's more accurate to call
the sixteenth Street mall killer a spree killer, not a
(13:22):
serial killer. Thank you, Texter. You are in fact correct,
and from now on I'll refer to the monster as
a spree killer, and the reason that the texture is
correct is a serial killing, arguably by definition, occurs over
a long period of time. A spree killer is a killer,
as the word sounds, who is on a killing spree
(13:44):
and is going to keep killing in a short period
of time until they are stopped. And the texter, I think,
strengthens the point because he's right or she's right. This
was a spree killer, which was even more reason why
the Johnston administration needed to immediately do whatever it took,
whatever it took to let everybody in Colorado know that
(14:07):
the mall right, now, we have a spree killer. I
tried to kill three within an hour, slit the throat
of one and did kill her, and we don't have
them because at that point people would be forewarned, they
would know, and they had every right to know that. Instead, Yeah,
there was a little news report, but there wasn't the
effort to warn people, not the kind of effort you
(14:27):
can be sure that Johnston administration would have given to
every one of their own family members if they thought
they might be going to the mall. I sit here, Ryan,
and I'm absolutely furious because I know my daughter, she
works in our firm. She's a genius, she has this
great circle of friends. There's a very good chance they
could have been down on the mall, down in the
(14:48):
Loto area of the mall somewhere that night, and the
thought that Mike Johnston would sit there and say, listen,
this is my assumption, right, but it seems like a
pretty reasonable one that the mayor had to know. The
mayor had to know by early Saturday evening there was
his spree killer on the mall. That the Johnston administration
(15:08):
would have allowed my daughter and everybody else out there,
including Nicholas Burkeett thirty four, to just unknowingly go down
to the mall without making sure they knew, or doing
everything only possible to make sure they knew there was
a spree killer on the loose they had not yet apprehended,
and every reason to believe the spree killer was going
(15:29):
to continue to try to kill on the mall as
he did. Yeah. To me, I can't think of a
word strong enough, ryan, immoral, obscene, not strong enough to
capture what was done to the people of Denver and
Colorado and mister Burchad who paid with his life, so
his father joins us at five thirty six. Dan Kaplist
(15:55):
and Silman was such a great show. I love the
back and forth, but fo Craig softened his stance to
AE as time went on. Perhaps I'm not remembering correctly,
but I felt you started rubbing off on Craig. I'd
loved your capitalists and someone again talk about some brain
power decay in Broomfield. Thank you, Dkay. It listened there.
There is no doubt that that. You know, part of
the end of that show was that Craig and I
(16:17):
started to agree more often. But I will guarantee you
one thing. You can be one thousand percent sure of
that that when Craig changed his positions, it was not
because of me. It was in spite of me, right,
I mean so, no, no, it was not that. But
Craig experienced what I experienced when I came on air. Okay,
(16:38):
I came on air as a Democrat back in nineteen
ninety one, and I was very well intentioned, believed I
was right, and some things I was right about and
haven't changed. I was a pro life Democrat. But then
when you're on air and there's nowhere to hide and
you have smart people calling the show every day pointing
out where you're wrong. You have a choice. You can
(17:00):
either look like an idiot or you can change your
view on what you've been wrong about. And that's what
happened to me. I started on air as a Democrat,
and within a couple of years I was unaffiliated, and
then within a couple of years I was a Republican.
And it was just the truth that led me there,
because on air, there's nowhere to hide. I think the
(17:23):
same thing happened there with with Craig. It wasn't me
convincing him of anything, it was it was just and
I respected, you know, the intellectual honesty there in making
those moves. But yeah, I think the show lost a
little something with that when we weren't disagreeing as much.
So Ryan, who can we bring in here to just
(17:43):
disagree with all the time in kind of a fun way.
Well we tried that and it didn't go very well, not
for the other person. So when we come back mister Burkett,
and that was a nice gentleman who came out in
for one show and I thought it was a very
entertaining show. But I think he moved out of state.
(18:05):
Didn't you know. I'm kitting he was wonderfully did a
very good job for his side. It's just no matter
how smart and articulate you are, when you're wrong and
the facts prove you wrong, there's no where to hide
when we come back. Wayne Burkett, the father of Nicholas Burkett,
who was killed on the mall Sunday night.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
You're listening to the Dan Kaplis Show podcast.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
We're grateful for the opportunity to go to the VIP
line now and speak with mister Wayne Burkett. It is
his son, Nicholas, just thirty four years old, who was
killed Sunday night on the sixteenth Street Mall in Denver
as part of this vicious crime spree. Mister Burkett, thank
(18:47):
you for spending time with us this afternoon.
Speaker 8 (18:50):
Thank you, Dan, thank you for hearing my story.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yes, and please do tell us that if you would
start with telling us about your.
Speaker 8 (18:56):
Son, well, you know, he's always you know, had his troubles.
You know, he he's a mentally mentally ill person and
he has he had a drug addiction similar to the
perpetrator the knife wielding may act that killed him. Yeah,
(19:17):
but you know, yeah, he has the same condimental issues,
and it seems like that's not an excuse for it
because he was gentle, right, you know, he didn't hurt nobody, right,
so you know, it just it just seems like they're
going to try to fall back on that, and it's
really just devastating that. But we do want justice for Nicholas,
and he wasn't No, he was loved by a lot
(19:40):
of people.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
You're right, I mean right, I think everybody listening probably
has some mental illness in their family and can relate
to what you're saying. Just gentle, wonderful people, loved by many,
and and so please do tell us more, tell us
more about your son if you would, And then what
brought him to them all that night? But anything you
(20:03):
can share with us about that, because you know, I
think there are a lot of outraged people.
Speaker 8 (20:10):
Yeah, well what brought him to them all that night
was But I've just told you he's got his trouble, right,
and he was probably down there for the same reason
that guy was down there because that's the only place
to go. Yeah, Yeah, that's where everybody like that goes.
And there's not really much for them in this town.
(20:33):
And so that's what they do down there. They you know,
they congregate. I doubt that they knew each other. They
were ten years apart, but they had similar troubles and
they were both down there dealing with their troubles. And
it's just unfortunate, and that's what got him down there,
and it's by choice. We've tried everything we could to
(20:55):
get him to clean up and come in out of
the cold. He just, you know, seemed like I was
just his choice and lifestyle. We couldn't talk him out
of what he was doing, you know. So that's what
was going on with Nicholas, and a lot of people
really loved him, and you know that's probably going to
come out, and then we're going to have a vigil
for him tomorrow and the place where he was stabbed
(21:16):
at sixteenth and FLOSSI you know, tomorrow afternoon.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Can you share the time on that or is it
more private family only?
Speaker 8 (21:26):
Anybody's welcome to attend if they'd like to. I think
what time are we going to start the vigil? Three pm?
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Well, thank you and Wayne Burkette, our guests so kind
to spend time with us. His beloved son, Nicholas murdered
on the Mall Sunday night, a full more than twenty
four hours after the city knew they had a spree
killer on the loose. And sir, it's not as if
your son chose to go to what should have been
considered a dangerous place. He went to the sixteenth Street
(22:00):
mall where people should have a right to believe that
they're not going to be murdered.
Speaker 8 (22:06):
Right, And you know, we've spent a lot of time
there as a family. It's a place that we've always
gone to and we've never felt unsafe down there. There's
always been you know, a wide range cast of character.
There's a lot of character down there, but we never
felt unsafe like that.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Is there anything, mister Briquette, you can share with people
about what you've been told about how that the brutal
taking of your son's life came down, because so many
of us feel that it's outrageous that there weren't these
five alarm fire warnings given to everybody, including your son,
(22:47):
that there was a spree killer on the loose.
Speaker 8 (22:50):
Yeah, see what had happened is the first three victims
happened the day before, the before, and you know, he
had cut a seventy one year old woman's throat, and
he stabbed the guy that was in a wheelchair, and
then another guy or well, I'm not sure who all
the other victims are. And we're just still trying to
(23:11):
sort this out. And then you know, the next day
they knew they had a spree killer running around, and
I think they kind of knew who he was, but
they didn't know where he was. And then when he
was finally spotted after he murdered my son, and he
basically that was the last person he killed that there
(23:34):
was no warning from the I don't have any witness
reports or anything, but he was pronounced dead on arrival
at the He received a severe laceration to his back.
He was stabbed. You know, it's a horrible set of circums.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
I cannot have every parent listening, sir, It's just everybody's worse.
Can't even imagine what you're going through. And have you
heard from the mayor.
Speaker 8 (24:06):
I haven't heard from the mayor. I've had, you know,
a wonderful outreach from the you know, the Denver Police
and the victims outreach, and you know, so so far,
everybody has been really good, you know, the media especially. Yeah,
I can commend everybody for that, and I hope to
maybe hear from the mayor. I mean, you know, all
(24:28):
politics aside, I probably don't align with his politics, but
you know, besides that, there might be some issues I'd
like to discuss with him. You know, maybe we shouldn't
be providing shooting galleries for these people, and maybe they
should be provided with more mental health issues care the
way that the things used to be. The less of
(24:50):
an institution. I don't know, I don't know what the
answer is. But there's a lot of people on on
the streets that are just they mentally should not be there,
psychologically not capable of taking care of themselves or even
you know, being out there. And there's a lot of them.
And my son was wild them and he was medicating
(25:10):
himself with drugs. Whatever his heartaches were and whatever his
psychological problems were, he just only turned to drugs. Yeah,
a lot of people do.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
That is so true. But he did not, he did
not put himself in harm's way here. He went down
to the sixteenth Street mall, where people have a right
to believe they're not going to be murdered. Yeah, And
I'm just so sorry for your loss and this may
this may be an inappropriate question, especially so early. And
(25:41):
if you don't want to talk about it now, we
can get together again later if you'd like. But have
you given any thoughts to what you want to see
happen to the individual who took your son's life.
Speaker 8 (25:55):
Oh, I'm aware of the maximum Colorado, and me and
my wife, both his mom, we feel that that's probably
not enough, and that you know, being a knife wheeld lunatic,
being a lunatic doesn't make you not culpable, right, because
(26:20):
a lot of people are crazy and they don't stab nobody,
that's right. So I'd like to see, you know, if
he truly is not capable of understanding right for wrong,
but that's the standard in most cases, well then that
would come out in court. But I do want justice
to be served fairly and promptly. Yeah, you know, and
(26:44):
I hope he gets what he deserves after the assessment
of a jury.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah, well, sir, thank you for this time. And is
there a way for people to help, maybe help with
funeral expenses or anything else.
Speaker 8 (26:59):
Yeah, he has a gofund me set up and it's
honoring Nicholas Burchette's memory at the GoFundMe site.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Well we will, we will look that up and then
we'll share that information in the next segment, and we'll
share it tomorrow as well, and you know, we'll be
thinking of you individual and obviously in all of our
prayers and just so sorry for what you're going through.
Speaker 8 (27:26):
I really appreciate your concern about this case.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Well, thank you, sir, you take care, thank you, thank you.
That is mister Wayne Burkett, father of thirty four year
old Nicholas Burkett, who should still be alive. That there
there is no excuse for this. You know, you have
a spree killer on the loose in the mall, and
I'm not blaming police. You could have police every five
(27:52):
feet and and and with a psycho killer like this
that they're going to find a way to kill. But
everybody in Colorado deserved to be notified that there was
a spree killer loose on the mall and where were
those big warnings. But we'll get that info to you
on the other side about the GoFundMe and how you
(28:13):
can help if you'd like to do that, and I
hope that you do. You're on the Dan Kapla Show.
Speaker 6 (28:20):
And now back to the Dan Kapla Show Podcast.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Oh thank you man, and thank you to Hugh and
Kelly for arranging. You have mister Burkett join us. If
you just joined us, thank you. But Wayne Burkett, the
father of thirty four year old Nicholas Burkett, who was
butchered to death by that spree killer on the Sixteenth
Street Mall, was kind enough to join us in the
last segment. And just a heartbreaking story and just such
(28:47):
an unnecessary death. Twenty four hours after the Johnston administration
knew there was a spree killer loose on the mall,
Nicholas loses his life. Don't blame law enforcement. The public
needed to know. There needed to be five alarm fire warnings.
Everybody needed to know there was a spree killer targeting
(29:08):
the mall that they didn't have yet. It's the only
way people could have protected themselves. Mister Righett told us
that he hasn't received police reports, et cetera yet, but
I believe you mentioned that Nicholas had been stabbed in
the back, so probably never had any chance whatsoever. But
nobody going down there at a chance because they weren't warned.
(29:29):
So all those people who were at the Mall along
with Nicholas on Sunday and Sunday night unless they had
happened to see one of these fairly low level news
reports out there. There needed to be full warnings. You
can bet anybody in that Johnston administration they were warning
their family members who might have been thinking to go
into the mall. Everybody in the public deserved that kind
(29:50):
of warning. But mister Burqatt very moving and talked about
Nicholas and Nicholas's struggles. But it's not like you. He
went to a dangerous place. He went to the sixteenth
Street MA and as I mentioned to mister Burkett, every
reason to believe he wouldn't be murdered there. But that
family does need help with the funeral expenses. The go
(30:12):
fundme honoring Nicholas Burkett's memory Nicholas's n I C H
O L A. S. Burkett b U R K E
T T. And there's this very uh just heartbreaking picture
of him as a little boy. And you know, mister
Burkett talked openly, he offered it up about his own
son's struggle with drugs and how loved he was, how
(30:33):
gentle he was, and the point he makes is such
a great one. We all know people, right, almost all
of us have family members mental illness. I do, and
my brother just the greatest guy you'll ever meet, you know.
He's very mentally ill, disabled by it, but a gentle soul,
loving soul. And it's not like somebody has mental illness
(30:54):
they're going to go out and kill somebody. No, this
killer killed because he's a killer. And the dad described
Nicholas is a very gentle, loved, thirty four year old.
So I'll tweet out this GoFundMe as well as soon
as the show ends here. So if it's easier for
you to get it, if you are interested, and I
hope you consider it, it'll that you can just pull
(31:15):
it off of off of Twitter at Dan Kaplis on Twitter,
textor Dan sending love, hugs and prayers to the family
and friends of Nicholas Burquette. So painful, completely avoidable, that
is the point, that's right, Alexa, completely available, And I'm
telling you I've already got the CORA filed. And if
(31:36):
Johnston administration won't give up these documents to tell us
what the mayor knew and when he knew it, who
made that decision? Not to go out and truly warn
the public. Then I'll go to court to get those
because the public has a right to know. And that's
the thing, right is. We sit here and we were
helpless to save that flight attendant from having her throat slit.
(32:00):
We were helpless to save Nicholas at the time. We
were helpless to help the man in the wheelchair who
the spree killer tried to kill. Probably thought he had
helpless to help the other victim who was attacked by
the spree killer. But there are things we can do
to try to prevent it from happening again. And one
of those things is to expose the people who made
(32:23):
the decision to leave the people of Colorado in danger,
because that is the only chance Nicholas or anybody else
had to protect themselves was to be told there's a
spree killer targeting them all and he's on the loose. Ryan,
what do you take away from that conversation.
Speaker 6 (32:43):
I was on the edge of my seat just listening.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
I thought he was tremendously composed, much more so, I
think than I would have been, or maybe Manning in
our audience would have been. But I think he realized
that his son had problems, and he was very real
about that. I thought that was very noble of him,
like you said, to be honest and to share that.
But I'm with him. I mean, justice needs to be
served here. The killer did what he did, drugs, mental
(33:09):
illness or not. There are other reasons and why that
person was on the streets despite a lengthy history of
mental illness and episodes and incidents. And I applaud your
efforts Dan to get to the bottom of this because
the people have a right to know. Because what angers
me the most is Mike Johnson wouldn't have been so flippant,
(33:30):
wouldn't have been so dismissive of this if God forbid
it had happened to his wife, daughter, sister, mother, somebody
that he cared about. But all he wanted to do
was turn it into a chamber of commerce, pitch that
Denver was safe, but for this incident.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
No, just one of the most obscene things we've ever
seen in And I did ask mister Burquette whether he's
heard from the mayor. He said no, he said no,
that's criminal. Imagine that awful. Great praise for the Denver police,
well deserved. But why didn't why hasn't he heard from
the mayor. I mean first before the mayor went out
Ryan to that street corner to do a quote, well,
(34:07):
I call it a victory lap. He should have called
mister Burkett.
Speaker 5 (34:10):
He should just get me the names of the family
these victims. That's the first thing I'm gonna do is
call them right now.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
To do it now, that's one of the most revealing
things imaginable to not put a call in to mister
Burkett but instead choose to go down to sixteenth Street
Mall and just prance around with some obscene victory lap
where there had been a dead body of a flight
attendant with their throats slit just hours before. Yeah, the
(34:39):
gofund me is up at dan caplis on Twitter. Thank
you Ryan, Thank you Kelly.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.