AURORA | The fatal shooting last week of a 16-year-old Aurora girl was the result of an alleged drug dealer trying to get stolen motorcycles back from the slain girl’s father, according to court documents.
Audrina Fedelina Arrington was fatally shot early Jan. 7 after what police described as a “home invasion” into the girl’s apartment in the Village Green neighborhood.
Police have arrested April Chevon Collingwood, 44, Cooper Miller, 35, and David Gunion, 51, all of Aurora.
Aurora police investigators determined that Miller and Gunion charged into the apartment in the 10600 block of East Jewell Avenue brandishing guns in a botched attempt to reclaim motorcycles Collingwood told police the dead girl’s father had stolen some time recently before the shooting, according to court records.
The slain girl’s father told police that he had been staying at the apartment with his wife and daughter, Audrina, as guests of a friend who was the renter of the apartment. He said he and his family had been struggling with homelessness prior to staying there.
He said his friend no longer stayed at the apartment much because he’d been shot there previously, and Audrina’s father tied the shooting of his daughter to the previous shooting at the apartment.
He described the apartment as a “flop house” with numerous people staying there and coming and going frequently. The front room was divided up into private quarters with curtains.
He told police he was expecting another friend to come to the apartment late Jan. 6, but that man did not show up. The visit was related to a “side job,” Audrina’s father told police.
At about 6 a.m. the next morning, the man told police he heard what sounded like two people coming up the outside stairs of the apartment. He said he thought it was his friend regarding the job. His wife was in the shower and his daughter was sleeping in one of the other “quarters” in the front room.
“He went to the front door and observed the door handle was jiggling, and he believed (his friend) was going to come inside,” police reported in the arrest affidavit. He unlocked the door and opened it.
He said, immediately, “there was a gun in his face. The guy holding the gun closest to him said, ‘get the f**** back in the house,’ at gunpoint.”
He said he backed into the apartment, toward his bed, behind the curtain, to retrieve his own handgun.
He told police that the intruders began shooting, and he shot back, unaware if he hit either of the men who had broken in.
Several rounds of gunfire were exchanged, the man said, and another resident in the apartment was “punching” one of the intruders.
At one point, the gunmen fled the apartment and his daughter staggered toward him, shot in the jaw and bleeding profusely.
The residents in the apartment called police. Audrina was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she died from the gunshot wound.
After interviewing numerous witnesses and tracking down details captured on video, police determined there were three suspects.
The three were arrested at different times and places.
Collingwood was confronted and arrested on suspicion of holding illegal narcotics after a police dog “hit” on her car and police found undetailed drugs. After her arrest, she told police she would tell investigators what happened, according to the affidavit.
She had heard from a mutual friend of Audrina’s father that he had stolen three motorcycles and tools from a storage unit belonging to her and her husband.
She told police she arranged for Miller and Gunion to confront Audrina’s father Jan. 7 about the alleged theft and retrieve the motorcycles from the Aurora apartment he was staying at.
Collingwood told investigators that she drove to pick up a third person early that morning to meet at the apartment.
“(Miller and Gunion) also drove to that area in (Miller’s) black Ford Flex,” according to the affidavit. “ Both vehicles stopped at the Maverick gas station that is located near Michael’s apartment. While (Miller) used methamphetamine, (Collingwood) ‘did cookies’ in the snowy parking lot in her vehicle.”
Collingwood and the three men met at the Aurora apartment and discussed who would go upstairs to confront Audrina’s father about the stolen motorcycles.
After some discussion. Gunion and Miller said that they would “take care of it,” Collingwood told police.
Within minutes she heard the sound of gunfire. Gunion and Miller ran back to their car and drove away.
Collingwood told police she talked to them with a phone call after they all left the apartment.
The two men said the apartment door was partially open and they went in and saw sheets hanging from the ceiling, dividing the room, Collingwood recalled.
Gunion “said that after they entered the apartment, they saw (Audrina’s father) lying on a bed,” according to the affidavit. He “fired a gun at them first. (Miller), who was holding a revolver, fired his gun in what was described as a downward angle. Both men then fled.”
Collingwood “said that she never intended for anyone to get shot,” according to the affidavit, and she ‘regretted’ that Audrina had been killed.
She said she had not spoken to Gunion or Miller since the shooting.
Aurora police did not address in the affidavit which gunshot struck Audrina.
After the shooting, police reviewed outside security video footage and pieced together enough evidence to identify the three suspects in the shooting, according to Aurora investigators.
The series of arrests began Wednesday when officers from Denver Police Department Narcotics Unit arrested Collingwood, Aurora police spokesperson Joe Moylan said in a statement.
Collingwood faces charges of complicity to commit second-degree murder, first-degree burglary and attempted aggravated robbery, according to Aurora police.
Thursday, officers from the Aurora Police Department fugitive unit and members of Denver police Metro SWAT Team, arrested Miller. He faces charges of second-degree murder, first-degree burglary and attempted aggravated robbery.
Friday, Aurora police patrol officers, members of the department’s fugitive unit and SWAT Team arrested Gunion. He also faces charges of second-degree murder, first-degree burglary and attempted aggravated robbery, Moylan said.
Miller is being held at the Arapahoe County jail in lieu of $250,000 bond. Collingwood is being held in lieu of $100,000 bond. Gunion is being held in lieu of $25,000 bond.
Arrington’s family opened a Go Fund Me page for her. “She touched many lives and loved everyone unconditionally,” family members said. “We will all want to celebrate her life coming together as one for her, please use this fund to support that opportunity for us to make that happen.”
Absolute scum. We need immediate and significant changes in Aurora policing of violent crime. How many more innocent people need to be shot before something is done to combat the violence that at this point defines Aurora? No one wants to move to or live in this dangerous city.
They solved a murder in three days, and you’re still mad at the cops instead of at the murderer.
The APD “solved” a murder because DPD happened to arrest a person on unrelated charges who happened to know what’s going on. But go on… You can be mad at both the violent scum who lives in Aurora, and the police for stepping up traffic enforcement when there is an outrageous amount of violent crime in Aurora.
I love living here and I’m in the poorest zip code in the entire state. And violence defines Aurora? There’s violence in every city in every state. Is every city defined by violence? Why don’t you explain to us what you think the police should have done to prevent someone stealing motorcycles and the owner coming back to retrieve his stolen property with a gun. How do you propose they ‘combat the violence’ in this situation? I assume you have an answer. I’ll wait.
Good for you, Billy, you want to live in a violent crime-ridden city, then you’re part of the problem – maybe you’re one of the violent people, who knows. Police need to do their job and step up patrolling and enforcement in violent areas of the city. It’s not rocket science, Billy.
You didn’t answer Billy’s question.
As usual, you’re just another example of a voice of anti-everything (cops, Aurora, poor people). No solutions, no common sense, all gaslighting.
That’s not what gaslighting means. And, I did answer Billy’s question, lol. Read what I wrote again, and let me know if you need help understanding it.
For all that anyone knows, it was the father’s gun that fired the fatal shot that killed his daughter. If the father wasn’t involved with the theft of peoples stuff then his daughter would have never been involved with what happened. People need to take accountability for their part in this tragic event. Look at the father for what happened to his daughter! It’s just sad that his actions lead to her death.
Why hasn’t the father’s name been released?
Why do they keep saying the girls father? What’s his name?
Well said
Bury the survivors
Unfortunately, the punishment never fits the crime. I agree though, these worthless POS’s don’t deserve to share the same O2 that the rest of us have. Let’s bring back public hangings!
There is so many things wrong in this story that need addressing from homelessness, drugs, theft, violence….and not a single person has a real clue about how to address those issues other then more guns and jail everyone and one ‘bury the survivors’ ….. this country is so screwed
I am with Billy , police don’t give a shit if your property is stollen . They don’t do anything about it. When people have to take things in there own hands and go retrieve there property with a gun is that wrong or is that justice. Don’t give the police credit. April narked off her buddies after she was busted for drugs . The police didn’t solve a damn thing. Where is the justice . Sucks that little girl was shot it does but who fired the shot that killed her. Was it the dad? that is a criminal also, so worried about his family but yet out robbing storages, or was it the two men you say went in there to get there stuff back. the dad fired the first shots . The dad knew sooner or later it would catch up to him that’s why he had a gun right beside him. Some dad. The little girl didn’t deserve this but maybe the dad did. Where’s the justice. Dave might have a criminal record but obviously he did his time for his past crimes. Don’t steal a motorcycle unless you can deal with the karma cause it will come back on you. That’s just the way it is. Poor little girl got the bad end of her dads bullshit . April got her friends life sentences. The dad gets away with stollen property and might have shot his own daughter . Everyone looses ! Where’s the justice ,
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I still want to know why they haven’t released the name of the girls father
There is always more to the story. Most importantly, we need to stop making comments about things we really don’t have the entire story on. But it’s the norm now, everyone is a tuff guy cos they watch UFC fights, and are gangsters until it comes time to do gangster stuff. I don’t have an answer to the problem,oh wait, yes I do. The answer is how about we no longer allow big pharma to manufacture fentanyl,or anything to do with fentanyl..but wether it’s from China to Mexico and then Mexico to here in America, it’s being distributed and sold each and every day by the hundreds of thousands of tons, everyday..and where is the desired spot for it to sold? Right here is the USA, in your backyard, across the street, Aurora, Denver…it doesn’t matter, none of it does, just like that little girls life doesn’t…the people in charge of this country have there money invested in the war on drugs, and the war for drugs. By the millions and billions of dollars. You think you or I can stop this money flow? Not. It’s a sick truth. And those of you who don’t agree,it’s because you don’t know,or because you live in a fictional world, where personally,I want no part of anyways.