AURORA | An Aurora man found guilty of shooting a cocaine dealer four times in the head and neck in Westminster last year was sentenced to 60 years in prison in Adams County District Court Tuesday.
Dariques Hemphill, 19, pleaded guilty in February to shooting and killing 19-year-old Ricardo Manuel Sanchez in the parking lot of the Park Place Apartments near the intersection of West 92nd Avenue and Federal Boulevard in Westminster last winter, according to the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Hemphill pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree assault charges as part of a plea agreement.
Hemphill and 20-year-old Kerstie Arnold arranged to meet Sanchez and several other people to buy cocaine around midnight on Jan. 5, 2018, prosecutors said. The two parties agreed to buy the drugs in a car parked in the parking lot of the Westminster apartment complex.
When Sanchez arrived, Hemphill and Arnold demanded he and several other people in his car — a Chevrolet Equinox —“empty their pockets,” according to the local DA’s Office.
Hemphill then approached the driver’s side door of Sanchez’s vehicle and shot Sanchez four times in the head and neck, killing him. A female passenger, who was also in the car, was shot in the leg, but survived.
Three other people who were in the car during the shooting were not injured.
After Sanchez was shot, the car carrying the four other passengers accelerated across the parking lot and collided with a nearby apartment building.
Hemphill and Arnold then fled the area in a stolen Ford Expedition.
Aurora police later linked the couple to the shooting by connecting the stolen Expedition they used to flee the murder scene to a robbery committed less than a day after the killing. Investigators also found Arnold’s purse at the scene of the robbery.
Arnold and Hemphill robbed an unidentified Aurora business around 2 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2018, according to Sue Lindsay, spokeswoman for the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Once in custody, both Arnold and Hemphill confessed to being involved in the shooting, prosecutors said.
Police arrested Hemphill in Aurora on Jan. 9, Lindsay said.
Arnold, who is also from Aurora, also pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge as part of a plea agreement, according to Lindsay. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison on February 15.
Hemphill is facing a slew of other charges tied to the robbery and car theft in Arapahoe County, Lindsay said. He’s due to be arraigned on aggravated robbery, vehicle theft, assault and weapons charges in Arapahoe County District Court later this month.