Shawn Pope says he was almost too close to his mother, Shirlyne Johnson. He called every day, sometimes multiple times a day.

Occasionally, she grew tired of talking to him so often, Pope said, “but she always overlooked it ’cause I’m her son.” Johnson cared for him when he got jumped by a gang at 15 and sustained a debilitating head injury that forced him to relearn how to walk and talk.

Johnson herself was disabled, suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and rheumatoid arthritis, among other health issues. Since 2021, she had lived in the Thomas Bean Towers, a 13-floor, 189-unit apartment complex in the Five Points neighborhood operated by the Denver Housing Authority.

On May 19, 2023, Johnson told the front desk that hot air was blowing through her HVAC system, despite outside temperatures in the 60s that day. Maintenance never came.

Three days later, she again went to the front desk about the heat. A staffer told her maintenance would fix the problem that day.

“I have suffered all weekend, son,” Johnson told Pope that day. “I’m tired.”

The following day, Pope repeatedly tried to reach his mother, but she didn’t respond. At 8:52 p.m., he knocked on his mother’s door. No answer. A maintenance man opened the door for Pope and his wife. They immediately felt a blast of sweltering air.

When they walked to the bedroom, they saw Johnson in just her underwear, lying on the bed. She was dead at 68.

The Denver medical examiner estimated her unit was between 123 degrees and 127 degrees at the time of her death. Her body temperature? 111 degrees.

Johnson’s two children outlined these details in a September lawsuit, alleging the Denver Housing Authority neglected to treat their mother’s request as an emergency, leading to her death. The medical examiner said she died as a result of cardiovascular disease complicated by exposure to heat.

The 2023 incident, however, wasn’t the first time someone died at Thomas Bean Towers from overheating. Another woman died there under similar circumstances in 2019.

City health officials, though, found the Denver Housing Authority did not identify factors that contributed to the first accidental death, nor incorporate changes to their processes to prevent similar harm in the future.

DHA also did not comply with multiple orders issued by the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment during its 2024 investigation of the two deaths in Thomas Bean Towers.

Soon after Johnson’s death, the building also experienced an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of a lung infection. DHA, once again, did not remediate these concerns immediately, a public health investigation found.

DHA officials declined an interview request for this story, citing the ongoing litigation. In a statement, a spokesperson said the agency “takes resident well-being seriously and it is always our top priority.”

Pope and his sister, Latrisse Johnson, said their mother’s death could have been avoided. They called on the Denver Housing Authority to change its rules and regulations to prevent other families from experiencing the same heartbreak.

“My mother didn’t have to go this way,” Latrisse Johnson said. “I need accountability for her death.”

Two heat-related deaths

Four years before Johnson died, another resident of Thomas Bean Towers died of hyperthermia.

The apartment complex, built in 1972 at 2350 Cleveland Place, serves low-income older adults and those with disabilities. It’s run by the Denver Housing Authority, a quasi-municipal corporation that operates more than 13,000 units and housing choice vouchers, providing affordable housing to more than 26,000 very low, low and middle-income individuals in the city.

The housing authority is governed by a nine-member board of commissioners appointed by the mayor and approved by the City Council.

Diann Cooper Williams’ unit in 2019 was undergoing remediation efforts due to a water leak, Johnson’s lawsuit states. As part of these efforts, the contractor had installed humidifiers that put off heat ranging from 90 degrees to 116 degrees.

Despite the stifling temperature in the apartment, DHA did not offer Williams alternate accommodations, the lawsuit alleges.

On March 11, 2019, Williams died in her home at age 66. The thermostat in the living room read 99 degrees, but “it felt much hotter,” a Denver police report stated.

The medical examiner found Williams died as a result of environmental exposure due to hyperthermia with contributions of cardiovascular disease and a recent flu infection.

Hyperthermia, also known as heat stroke, is a serious, potentially life-threatening form of heat illness. The body’s temperature rises to 105 degrees or higher and can cause neurological changes, such as mental confusion or unconsciousness. The extreme heat begins to affect internal organs, causing breakdown of heart muscle cells and blood vessels, damage to internal organs, and death.

Most causes of heat stroke, Harvard University experts say, can be prevented.

Johnson and Williams were older adults with heart conditions, both significant risk factors for heat-related illnesses, experts say. These individuals maintain a higher heart rate even in normal environments.

But when the air around them heats up, the body has less blood available to send to vital organs, leading to potentially dire consequences, said Dr. Riana Pryor, director of the Hydration, Exercise and Thermoregulation Laboratory at the University at Buffalo.

In April 2024, the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment slammed DHA for not responding adequately to either death or taking action that could have prevented the fatalities. The department found:

• DHA did not comply with multiple orders during the course of the investigation into the two deaths
• DHA did not comply with their internal work order procedures, nor respond effectively to either resident’s complaint
• DHA did not conduct regular preventative maintenance for ventilation units
• DHA did not identify factors that contributed to Williams’ death, “nor incorporate responsive changes to their processes to prevent similar harm in the future”
• DHA installed a 17-year-old refurbished heat pump into Johnson’s unit. These units, though, have a 15-year life cycle, the department found. The pump failed three more times in a nine-month period.

Public health officials offered several recommendations to DHA, including working with an independent consultant to assess and revise their work order response policies related to faulty ventilation and heat-producing equipment; reviewing and updating their work order response policies to develop a system to identify life-safety concerns; retraining staff on complaint and work order response policies at least quarterly.

DHA did not answer questions about whether the department followed up on any of these recommendations.

Thomas Bean Towers has also dealt with several other health and safety issues over the years.

In 2006, The Denver Post reported a bedbug infestation at the public housing complex.

Residents experienced four floods in two years because of issues with the PVC pipes in the building, according to a Denver7 report in 2022. The floods led to mold and water damage in the building.

In July 2023, public health officials learned of two cases of Legionnaires’ disease among building residents.

The disease is a serious type of pneumonia caused by bacteria. Most people who catch Legionnaires breathe in the bacteria from water or soil. Older adults, people with weakened immune systems and people who smoke have a higher risk of getting the disease.

Building water systems that are not properly operated and maintained can provide an ideal environment for spreading Legionella, the bacteria that cause Legionnaires’ disease, Denver public health officials said in an August 2023 letter to DHA.

That month, the Department of Public Health and Environment sent DHA an “order to comply,” noting housing officials had not sent all the information and documentation requested by the public health department. The order showed DHA was overdue on sharing remediation plans and providing the city with a list of maintenance repairs conducted on HVAC units.

‘They need to pay’

On May 23, the second anniversary of Johnson’s death, her family gathered at a Denver park to celebrate her life.

Pope and Latrisse Johnson, along with her daughter and granddaughter, released balloons into the air. They expressed how much they missed her.

“Rest easy, mom,” Latrisse Johnson said. “Look over us.”

After Johnson’s death, the family continued cooking a Southern meal every Sunday — an ode to Shirlyne’s love for whipping up good food for her loved ones. Mac and cheese. Collard greens. Sweet potatoes. Meatloaf. Catfish.

Pope remembers his mother through a tattoo on his neck. Latrisse talks to her plants every morning, a picture of Shirlyne watching over them carefully.

“They took my mom; it hurts me every day,” Pope said. “They need to pay.”

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