A Denver jury on Friday convicted a 33-year-old man of first-degree murder in two shootings on the South Platte River Trail in September 2023, according to the district attorney’s office.
Tanner Ray Fielder was arrested after police connected him to two separate shootings along the bike path that killed Lluvia Robles-Banuelos, 31, and Jeremy Hutcheson, 43.
On Dec. 15, Fielder will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the mandatory sentence for first-degree murder in Colorado.
He was represented by the state public defender’s office, which does not comment on criminal cases.
It was Yom Kippur when Jihad al-Shamie, a Syrian-born British citizen, attacked a synagogue in Manchester. According to the Guardian, al-Shamie was out on bail for an alleged rape and is believed to have a previous criminal history. Two Jews, Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, were killed before police shot al-Shamie dead. Three other people are in serious condition. Al-Shamie’s method, car-ramming and a knife, is frequently used by Palestinian terrorists against Israelis. As the left-Islamist mobs say, “Globalize the intifada.”
LONDON—One of those killed and one injured in
Thursday’s terrorist attack in Manchester were hit by gunfire from police who were trying to stop the attacker from entering a crowded synagogue, police said Friday.
“One of the deceased victims would appear to have suffered a wound consistent with a gunshot injury,” the Greater Manchester Police said. “It is currently believed that the suspect, Jihad Al Shamie, was not in possession of a firearm and the only shots fired were from GMP’s Authorised Firearms Officers.”
A 17-year-old who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a shooting at an Aurora rental hall was sentenced to 35 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections, the district attorney’s office said.
Xavier Garcia, 17, was arrested after a shooting during a party in the 2000 block of Tower Road on March 23, 2024.
The victim, 19-year-old Joseph Martinez, was standing against a wall when a fight broke out and Garcia approached him, pulled out a handgun and shot him in the chest, according to the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Martinez was taken to the hospital and later died.
Garcia pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on July 28, and prosecutors dismissed charges of first-degree murder and possession of a handgun by a juvenile as part of the plea agreement.
In a statement, District Attorney Brian Mason described Garcia’s actions as “outrageous, unjustified and devastating.”
“This case is yet another tragic example of the devastation caused by youth gun violence,” Mason said. “A 19-year-old lost his life, and a 17-year-old threw his future away with senseless act of violence.”
An attorney for Garcia could not immediately be reached for comment.
A 38-year-old man was arrested in connection with a fatal shooting Sunday afternoon in Sheridan, police said Friday.
The victim, an adult man, was shot shortly after getting into his vehicle in the 3300 block of South Zuni Street at 1:08 p.m., the Sheridan Police Department said in a news release.
The suspect fled the scene in another vehicle, and the victim was taken to HCA HealthONE Swedish and pronounced dead.
Investigators identified Anthony Elmer Trujillo as a suspect in the case and arrested him Friday, the department said.
Trujillo is being held without bail at the Arapahoe County jail. His next court date was not available.
NAIROBI, Kenya—The Kenyan government is using special antiterrorism courts—established with U.S. money to combat al Qaeda—to threaten political dissidents with decades in prison.
Prosecutors have charged 75 Kenyans with terrorism in recent weeks, the majority for allegedly destroying government property during street demonstrations against President William Ruto.
A Denver man wanted on suspicion of murder in a 2023 bar shooting that killed two people and wounded two others was arrested Friday night, one day after the FBI announced a $10,000 reward for information in the case.
Matthew LaDaniel Johnson was wanted on suspicion of two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder in connection with a Dec. 30, 2023, shooting at the shuttered Viking Bar at 4888 W. Colfax Ave.
Police say a fight between Johnson’s girlfriend and another man escalated after the man punched Johnson and knocked him to the ground, which is when Johnson pulled out a gun and began shooting, hitting four people.
Jason Lewis, 38, and Brandon Houston, 41, died at a hospital.
One person was shot and killed early Thursday morning in Adams County, and investigators are searching for the suspect, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Adams County Sheriff’s Office first posted about the shooting near East 88th Avenue and Welby Road in the Chaparral Village community at 4:36 a.m. Thursday.
Sheriff’s officials said Welby was closed between 86th and 88th avenues for the investigation. It’s unclear when that road will reopen.
The suspect in the shooting has not been publicly identified, but sheriff’s officials said investigators are searching for one person. There is no threat to the public, according to the sheriff’s office.
No information about the victim, including age or gender, was immediately available on Thursday.
Pa Reh, 21, will spend the rest of his life in the Colorado Department of Corrections without the possibility of parole, the mandatory sentence after he was convicted of first-degree murder by a Denver jury in July.
Kaing, 42, was unloading dessert from her car outside her family’s apartment building when Reh and three others began shooting at a passing car driven by people they had a dispute with.
She died at the scene in her son’s arms.
Kaing’s family, friends and community have described her as a vital part of the East Colfax neighborhood, where she served on the neighborhood association’s board of directors, volunteered at a nearby food bank and was quick to help anyone in need.
Kaing and her family had opened Taw Win Thai and Burmese Restaurant just six months before her death.
“Her murder was an unspeakable tragedy for her family, for her immigrant community and, frankly, for all of us in Denver,” Denver District Attorney John Walsh said in a statement Friday. “…That sentence cannot bring Ma Kaing back, but it can send the powerful message that violence will not be tolerated in Denver.”
A second man charged with first-degree murder in Kaing’s shooting, Lu Reh, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in May. Two others, Nu La and Swa Bay, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in July and have sentencing hearings set for September.
Federal prosecutors charged 30 people with largely gun and drug-trafficking crimes after a months-long investigation in metro Denver, a mix of federal and local officials announced at a news conference Monday.
Those charged include eight people who investigators believe are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua, U.S. Attorney Peter McNeilly said. He said he considers three of the eight gang members to be “leaders.” Two of the leaders were arrested July 30 in Colombia, court records show.
McNeilly could not say how many Tren de Aragua gang members remain in Colorado, whether the local members were taking direction from leaders in Venezuela, or how many of the 30 people arrested in the operation were Venezuelan nationals.
David Olesky, a special agent in charge with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said the federal charges against eight gang members “diminished” Tren de Aragua’s “influence and capabilities” in the Denver area.
The federal investigation started in October when Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown sought federal assistance to deal with rising crime at the Ivy Crossing apartments on Quebec Street. The subsequent investigation involved at least 40 undercover operations and branched out significantly from the apartment complex.
Federal investigators seized or purchased 69 guns during the investigation, according to court records. Twenty-seven of those guns were connected through ballistics to 67 “separate shooting events,” said Brent Beavers, Denver special agent in charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Court records show those incidents included drive-by shootings, an attempted carjacking and a shootout between two large groups, among others.
“By removing these firearms from the street, we’ve disrupted a dangerous cycle of violence, prevented further harm to our community and sent a clear message to criminal networks,” Beavers said.
The defendants in the federal cases announced Monday were not charged in connection with those shootings.
Rather, the majority of defendants face charges of possessing guns, conspiring to illegally traffic guns, distributing drugs and conspiring to distribute drugs in connection with incidents in which they are accused of selling drugs or guns to undercover federal agents.
If convicted, the defendants face between five and 20 years in prison on many of the charges.
Six of the defendants are also charged with conspiring to commit murder-for-hire. An undercover agent asked the defendants in May if they could hire the defendants to kill two people for $10,000. The defendants allegedly agreed to commit the homicides for $15,000, and one defendant also offered to decapitate the victims and return their heads to the undercover agents for an additional $5,000.
Several of the defendants were arrested after they met up to get ready for the killings, according to an affidavit.
Conspiracy to commit murder for hire can be punished by up to 10 years in prison.
Investigators determined the woman died “under suspicious circumstances” from an assault on Sept. 7 and identified Jasmane Taylor as a suspect through witness interviews and surveillance video.
Taylor was arrested Friday during an unrelated investigation and is currently in custody at the Downtown Detention Center on a $1,000,000 cash bond, according to jail records.
A 42-year-old man fatally shot by Fort Collins police during an armed confrontation at Grandview Cemetery in July was a suspect in a 2019 cold-case homicide, police officials said Friday.
Pierce was involved in a single-vehicle rollover crash and left the scene armed with two “ghost guns,” or guns without serial numbers, which are illegal to own, sell or create.
Pierce was also carrying a bottle of bourbon with the words “His last day” written on it, according to the district attorney’s letter.
He pointed the rifle at responding police officers and shot one officer in the arm, according to the agency. He then walked into Grandview Cemetery, where he was fatally shot by police.
Pierce had twice the legal driving limit of alcohol as well as methamphetamine, THC and gabapentin in his system at the time of his death, according to the letter.
District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin found Fort Collins Police Services Sgt. Brian Mallory and Officers Peter Nolan, August Barber and Cole Giandomenico were legally justified in using deadly force “to defend themselves, other officers and the public at large” from the threat posed by Pierce.
At the time of Pierce’s death, Fort Collins police were “in the process of formalizing charges” against him in connection to a 2019 cold-case homicide, the police agency said Friday.
Detectives determined there was “sufficient evidence” to arrest Pierce on suspicion of first-degree murder in the death of Joseph “Sonny” Brigman.
Brigman, 62, died from a gunshot wound after he was found unresponsive in his apartment in the 4100 block of Verbena Way the night of April 29, 2019, according to the Fort Collins Coloradoan.
Lumumba Sayers, 46, is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of felony menacing in the Saturday shooting death of Malcolm Watson near Paradice Island Pool at Pioneer Park.
He appeared in Adams County District Court on Thursday, where a judge increased his bail from $1 million to $5 million.
According to an arrest affidavit and witness statements made in court Thursday, Watson was carrying party supplies for his son’s birthday at the pool at 5951 Monaco St. when Sayers walked up to him and shot him multiple times, including once in the head.
After shooting Watson, Sayers went to talk with a man and a woman in a black Cadillac Escalade parked nearby before returning to Watson’s body, taking his keys and trying to place a handgun under his body, according to the affidavit.
Commerce City police officers arrived on scene to find Sayers crouching over Watson before he started to walk toward the Escalade, according to the affidavit.
Officers arrested him after witnesses began yelling that he was the shooter. Watson was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses told detectives they believed the shooting was retaliation or revenge for the death of Sayers’ son, 23-year-old Lumumba Sayers Jr., who was killed almost a year ago in a shooting involving one of Watson’s friends, according to the affidavit.
In response to an inquiry about Braxton’s case, the Denver District Attorney’s Office stated “no such records exist,” which is the only response prosecutors can provide under Colorado law when a case has been sealed.
Braxton is on trial in federal court in Denver this week for a weapons charge related to the August 2023 shooting, according to court records.
He was indicted by a grand jury in January on one count of possession of ammunition by a prohibited person, court records show.
The trial is scheduled to wrap up this week, court officials said Thursday.
The center, which described the elder Sayers as a founder in social media posts, is “a safe place where youth and adults are provided with basic needs, educational and career support, health resources, recreational and outreach services to assist with creating jobs and a building a sustainable life,” according to a description on its Facebook page.
Defense attorneys argued Sayers was an “exceptional” man and defended his character and position in the community during Thursday’s hearing, while prosecutors argued he was a danger to the community and Watson’s family as well as a flight risk.
Adams County District Court Judge Jeffrey Ruff ordered a $5 million cash-only bail, calling it the “only bond acceptable” in the case.
Sayers’ next court date was not available Thursday.
The Denver Police Department responded to a call about a water rescue at the park at 3500 Rockmont Drive at 12:11 a.m., said spokesperson Katherine McCandless. The South Platte River runs through the park.
Police were investigating the woman’s death as a homicide as of Thursday afternoon, but further details about the woman’s death were not immediately available.
Anyone with information about the incident may call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.
Terrell Ronin Warrior was arrested Monday on suspicion of second-degree murder in a stabbing in the 12000 block of Melody Drive that killed one man Saturday morning, Westminster police said in a news release.
Officers responded to the area near Willowbrook Park and Wesley Chapel Cemetery in northern Westminster at 9:10 a.m. and found a man with a stab wound to the chest. He died at the scene.
Warrior will be booked into the Adams County Detention Facility, according to Westminster police. His age and bail information was not immediately available.
A 36-year-old man forced a woman into an SUV outside a hotel and fatally shot her as they argued, according to an arrest affidavit from the Westminster Police Department.
Jesse Aaron Gladney is charged with first-degree murder in the domestic violence shooting death of 36-year-old Valarie Garcia on Saturday.
A witness called 911 at 8:07 p.m. after seeing a man grab a woman by the neck and tell her to get into a Chevy Equinox at the Super 8 at 12055 N. Melody Dr., according to Gladney’s arrest affidavit. The witness also told police there was another person in the front seat.
Ten minutes later, a witness reported a man shot a woman and she was unconscious near 120th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Thornton. Police later found the woman, Garcia, at Platte Valley Hospital in Brighton.
The woman driving the Equinox during the shooting later contacted police and told them Gladney had asked her to pick him up from a hotel in Brighton and told her to keep driving. When they reached the Super 8, he went inside and came out with Garcia.
Garcia and Gladney were arguing and he was pushing her against the car, the woman told police. The argument continued as they got in the car, until Gladney told Garcia to “Shut up or I’ll shoot you.”
A few moments later, the woman reported hearing and smelling a gunshot while she was driving. Gladney told her he shot Garcia and started slapping Garcia and telling her not to fall asleep, according to the affidavit.
Gladney kept getting out of the Equinox at stoplights to ask for help and when they got to the hospital, he started yelling at hospital staff to not let Garcia die, according to the affidavit. He then punched the windshield of a nearby car and later had to be sedated by hospital staff so they could treat his hand.
Garcia died at the hospital later Saturday night, according to the arrest affidavit.
Gladney declined to speak to detectives and the affidavit does not detail how he knew Garcia, though Garcia’s family told CBS Colorado he was her boyfriend. Investigators found a Kahr Arms PM40 pistol in the Equinox as well as a bullet in the rear passenger seat.
Gladney is in custody at the Adams County Detention Facility on a $2 million cash-only bail and is set to appear in court Sept. 30.
Adre Baroz, nicknamed “Pyscho,” was sentenced to life in prison for the 2020 homicides of five people in the San Luis Valley, according to court records.
Korina Arroyo, Selena Esquibel, Xavier Zeven Garcia, Myron Martinez and Shayla Hammel were killed and their bodies dumped near the Colorado-New Mexico border.
Co-defendants Julius Baroz and Francisco Ramirez also pleaded guilty to charges related to the murders in February. Julius pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and received 25 years in prison with credit for 1202 days served. Ramirez pleaded guilty to three counts of tampering with a deceased human body and was served three eight-year sentences.
Police responded to the UCCS campus just before 6 a.m. on Feb. 16 when Jordan and Knopp’s other roommate called 911 after being awoken by gunshots, according to an arrest affidavit.
Police found the bodies of Knopp and Montgomery, who was not a student at the university, with multiple gunshot wounds in Knopp’s room and Jordan’s room was emptied of his belongings.
Jordan had previously threatened to kill Knopp over a dispute about trash in the dorm pod. He filed a request to withdraw from UCCS classes and housing the day before the shooting, according to an arrest affidavit.
Jordan’s attorney filed a motion for a competency evaluation on Friday and Judge David Shakes ordered the evaluation during a hearing Monday, according to online court records and the El Paso County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors did not argue against the evaluation, said spokesperson Kate Singh.
Shakes also ordered a mental health stay in the case. Jordan is set to appear for a review hearing on April 12, according to court records.
