AURORA |A 15-year-old boy has been charged with first-degree murder for his role in a north Aurora shooting yesterday that left one man dead.
Investigators arrested the boy last night, according to a press release issued by the Aurora Police Department. Police cannot identify the boy due to his young age.
Aurora police officers found a man who had been shot lying on the ground outside the Fitzsimmon Junction Apartments near the corner of East Montview Boulevard and Billings Street at about 11:15 a.m. Wednesday, according to Officer Matt Longshore, spokesman for the Aurora Police Department.
Longshore said an Adams County Sheriff’s Deputy was near the apartment complex for a reason unrelated to the shooting when he heard gunshots. The deputy then radioed Aurora Police officers, who drove to the scene across the highway from the new Veterans Affairs hospital and found a man suffering a gunshot wound. Officers tried to provide first aid to the man before he was driven to a nearby hospital, but the man was later pronounced dead.
Longshore confirmed officers took a man into police custody shortly after the shooting, but he said that apprehension was unrelated to the shooting.
Emily Holley, a resident of the Fitzsimmon Junction Apartments, said she heard about five gunshots.
“It sounded like firecrackers,” she said. “You know, like it’s too late for that. And then when we heard the screaming — just crazy.”
Holley said Wednesday’s incident made her fear for her family’s safety.
“We have kids,” she said. “We live here. We have a 3-year-old and 9-year-old who play over here. So, you know, it’s worrisome.”
She said the sound of gunshots in the neighborhood is not unusual.
“It’s not the first time we’ve heard gunshots,” she said. “But, I mean it’s Colfax.”
The case has been handed to the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.