EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been revised with additional information from an arrest affidavit from state courts. The new story is available by clicking here.
AURORA | Three men accused of holding a gunfight between two vehicles driving down Havana Street and injuring a bystander this summer now face charges of attempted first-degree murder in the shooting.
July 28 Shooting victims included a pedestrian and the police car of an Aurora police officer on patrol, police said in a statement.
Police were called to the intersection of South Havana Street and East Idaho Place at about midnight July 28 after reports of a shooting near there.
“The victim, an on-duty Aurora police officer in a marked unit, reported over the radio he was driving south on Havana Street when he heard gunfire and believed his vehicle had been struck by a bullet,” Aurora police spokesperson Joe Moylan said in a statement.
The officer was not injured by the gunfire.
A few minutes later, officials at a nearby hospital called police to say a man had come to the emergency room suffering a gunshot wound.
“The man later told officers he was on the sidewalk near the 1500 block of South Havana Street when he heard several shots and realized he had been struck,” Moylan said.
Investigators at the time recovered a host of shell casings, but no information about suspects in the shooting.
In the weeks after, the Aurora Police Department Crime Gun Intelligence Unit collected security video from different locations in the region, piecing together what happened, police said.
“A rolling gunfight had taken place on South Havana Street between a black Land Rover SUV and a white Ford F150 pickup,” Moylan said. “Investigators developed information the shootout was connected to the incident involving the Aurora officer and the pedestrian. Investigators also identified four additional victims who were in the crossfire.”
Crime scene investigators said an analysis of the shell casings were linked to a shooting earlier in the day in Aurora, as well as another shooting hours later in Denver.
“Ultimately, investigators were able to identify three suspects, including the suspected driver of the Land Rover and two passengers, who are the suspected shooters,” Moylan said.
In October, police arrested Jose Daniel Gimenez-Chacin, 23, and Alonzo Lara, 29 in connection with the shootings.
A third suspect, Yilbert Fransua Maldonado-Moncada, 29, was in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, police discovered in November.
“Last Thursday, Maldonado-Moncada made his first appearance in Arapahoe District Court where he was formally advised of the charges against him for the July 28 shooting on South Havana Street,” Moylan said.
All of the suspects have been charged with six counts of attempted first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree assault and one count of first-degree assault, Moylan said.
Gimenez-Chacin is being held in the Arapahoe County jail in lieu of $750,000 bond. Lara is being held on $500,000 bond. Maldonado-Moncada is now at the Arapahoe County jail and being held in lieu of $250,000 bond, according to jail records.
Police did not release details about the nature of the gunfight, nor the related shootings from the same day.
Nice of these guys to be the first volunteers for Operation Aurora.