AURORA | Aurora police are asking for second-degree murder charges in the death of a man fatally shot Friday after some kind of dispute in the parking lot of an East Colfax liquor.
Police said a joint operation among Aurora and Denver police, as well as an FBI task force, led to the arrest Sunday afternoon of Davonte McCoy Bletson, 20, of Denver.
Arapahoe County courts officials said the affidavit for Bletson’s arrest was currently suppressed and unavailable to the public.
“The victim, a 38-year-old Aurora man, is a native of Venezuela,” police said in a statement Monday. “The victim is not a resident of nearby Whispering Pines apartments, nor is he a resident of any of the other Aurora properties that have received significant media attention in recent weeks.”
Whispering Pines apartments is about two blocks from the location of the shooting and the subject of controversy over disputed allegations of Venezuelan gang activity at the complex and the other apartments in the area.
The victim’s identity, as well as an official cause and manner of death, will be released by the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office.
Police were called to the parking lot of Friends Liquors, 15500 E. Colfax Ave., at about 8:45 p.m. after reports of the shooting there.
Investigators said the shooting victim and another man had gone to the liquor store and became embroiled in an argument with two other men and a woman.
“The argument escalated to a physical fight, followed by shots fired,” Aurora police spokesperson Joe Moylan said in a statement.
The shooting victim was hospitalized with “multiple gunshot wounds,” Moylan said. “He died shortly after arriving at the hospital.”
“Witnesses told police the three suspects sped from the scene in a silver sedan following the shooting,” Moylan said.
Police did not say who among the suspects is accused of shooting the victim, or what the nature of the dispute was.
Bletson is currently being held in the Arapahoe County jail in lieu of $500,000 bond.
Police said anyone with information can call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. Tipsters can remain anonymous and still be eligible for a reward of up to $2,000, police said.
Is every story going to have a connection to the Venezeulan gang from now on? Weren’t the apartment buildings in question near Colfax & Havana? This liquor store is near Colfax and Chambers Rd., about 55 blocks or 4.5 miles away, right?
Thank you, Su. My thoughts exactly. If they found no possible connection, why did investigators need to point that out?
Whispering Pines This community is located at 1357 Helena St. in the Laredo Highline area of Aurora.
Not all of the apartments were in Northwest Aurora.
If the demographics of the victim was not reported many people would ask why……
Whispering Pines, owned by the same slumlord that claimed Venezuelan gangs took over his properties, is only about a block away from where this homicide took place. That’s the connection.
As an African American male who has never gotten in trouble, I know exactly how this feels.
The more the Venezuelans do the bad, the more prejudged.
They will have to do 10x more good to replenish their reputation.
This is why whenever I hear people talking about them, I quickly let them know that they are being racist or biased towards a few little thugs.
So now we have the Feds enter the scene via the task force looking at what is a typical north-side city shooten occurrence. These are investigated by Aurora PD as the norm, not usually a federal practice. Would this interest from the FBI be as a result to some new competition and feuding between territory dominated by the already established home-boy crew and thus new tension is created with this new crew of TdA imports?