The Denver building where an 11-year-old girl was injured after falling several stories from an open window on Monday has a history of broken window locks, according to city officials and legal letters sent to the Salvation Army.

A resident at Denver’s Tamarac Family Shelter reached out to Darren O’Connor — a Colorado-based attorney who focuses on family law, civil rights and eviction tenant representation — early last year because water was seeping into his family’s unit and causing mold to grow in the carpet, O’Connor said.

The leakage was traced to an unsealed, sliding glass window that wouldn’t close entirely or lock, which concerned the family with a crawling toddler, O’Connor said.

O’Connor described the issue as a “phenomenal risk of catastrophe” in a letter to the Salvation Army about the unit’s habitability in February 2024.

Throughout his investigation, O’Connor discovered that a large chunk of the building’s windows weren’t sealed and shelter residents were opening the already lock-broken windows or unscrewing them to cool off, he said. All of the windows led to tiny platforms with no railings to prevent a multi-story fall.

The family shelter at 7525 E. Hampden Ave. used to be an Embassy Suites hotel. The hotel removed the railings and locked window access to the balconies before the city bought the building, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said during a Mayor-Council meeting on Tuesday.

“When we acquired it, we shored up the locks,” Johnston said. “We also put notices on every window in both English and Spanish saying ‘Do not open these sliding doors’.”

Some residents broke off the locks and opened the doors against that guidance, which is how Monday’s tragedy happened, he said.

It’s unknown if the 11-year-old girl has been released from the hospital. The Salvation Army previously said the girl was seven years old.

The cause of the fall is also unknown, but Derek Woodbury, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Housing Stability, called the situation an “accidental falling” on Monday.

The Denver Police Department is investigating the incident. An unidentified spokesperson for the department said the girl suffered serious injuries when she fell from the seventh floor to a second-story rooftop but is expected to survive.

“The reason the balconies don’t have a fence is because you’re not supposed to get out there to begin with,” said Jon Ewing, a spokesperson for the city of Denver.

Ewing said the windows are screwed shut and shelter tenants sign an agreement not to open them. The screws are supposed to be inspected every week, but they’re certainly inspected at turnover by Salvation Army staff, Ewing said.

“You have to open them yourself … unless somebody didn’t notice that the window could still open,” Ewing said.

The Salvation Army did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Tuesday.

The windows open roughly four inches for ventilation, but the screws make it difficult for some, Ewing said. City officials are installing new fasteners in the shelter’s rooms to fix that issue and prevent tampering.

“What we’re doing today is making a permanent solution where we’re putting in bolts that can’t be manipulated with … regular screwdrivers that you can buy at the store to go even a step further,” Director of Denver’s Department of General Services Al Gardner said during the Mayor-Council meeting.

Staff also went through every room in the shelter to tighten the current window bolts and ensure the windows couldn’t open from the inside, Gardner said.