AURORA | A former Greenwood Village police officer has been charged with second-degree murder and other crimes in the shooting death of a 17-year-old boy in Aurora the night before Thanksgiving, according to prosecutors in Arapahoe County.
Adam Holen, 36, was implicated earlier this week by Aurora Police. Court records do not list an attorney for him.
Holen is accused of shooting to death 17-year-old Peyton Blitstein after the two argued about careless driving allegations in a southeast Aurora neighborhood.
Both Blitstein and Holen were armed, police said after the shooting. They shot each other. Holen was injured. Blitstein was killed.
The shooting occurred about 10:30 p.m. in a yard on the 4900 block of South Addison Way.
“Officers located two males, both suffering from a gunshot wound,” Aurora Police Agent Matthew Longshore said in a statement the next day.
Witnesses said Holen, 36, was arguing with a group of teenagers about accusations of careless driving in the neighborhood, police said.
The incident was captured on the doorbell camera of a nearby home, but video made it difficult to determine who fired first and what exactly happened, police said.
“At some point during the argument, both the adult and teenager produced firearms, and both fired shots at one another,” police said in a previous statement.
Both the boy and the man were rushed to hospitals. The boy died shortly after.
An autopsy for Blitstein concluded the boy’s death was a homicide, and that he died from gunfire.
Blitstein’s family has made multiple appearances on local TV stations, once during a vigil for the boy. Blitstein was a student at Aurora’s Vista PEAK Preparatory Academy.
The Colorado Springs Gazette reported that Holen resigned from Greenwood Village police Nov. 1 after five years on the force.
Holen was also charged with felony menacing and the prohibited use of a weapon.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
I am not surprised by this news whatsoever. Just one step in the process. Now to see how the trial progresses and see if the real story can be developed. I have decided that the real problem with guns in this country is in fact the individual interpretation of the meaning of the 2nd Amendment. The scholars need to dissect the wording and submit it for finalization if we are ever to get out from under the idiocy of guns in this country.
Whose scholars, the ones that agree with you or those other ones. The stupid ones…..
I look forward for the facts to come out, in this case.
Speeding by anyone, including teenagers, is dangerous in residential neighborhoods. Now we know it’s dangerous for the speeders also.
I know that it’s possible for an ex-policeman to have a gun in/at his home. Why would a speeding underage teenager have a gun on his body or in his car?
The placing of blame is child’s play as to the attempt to solve a problem. Hope the very vocal father isn’t part of the problem.
Time will tell.
We will all no the facts. Since when is speeding anywhere a death sentence.
Yeah this bootlicking republican conveniently leaves out the part that the cop was 2x above the legal limit drunk and driving around with a gun, but somehow remembers the teen was accused of driving recklessly. Even if the kid was speeding who says that’s a death sentence in your trumpian world.
the kid literally shot him first. Well it’s obvious that drunk shouldn’t have been out driving with a gun, you conveniently leave out the part where he was shot first. Stupidity on all sides but this wasn’t murder.
Is he eligible for the $9000 retention bonus?