Before the single bullet went through the bodies of Kenia and Celine Venzor, it tore through the girls’ window, an entertainment center, a teddy bear and a stereo speaker.
“I woke up to the screams of my children,” said their mother, Michelle Venzor. “I opened their door, and they were screaming that they were shot.
“Kenia looked like a water fountain, her arteries were so cut up.”
The bullet hit 12-year-old Kenia first, slicing through her left arm and her right breast and out the back of her right hand. Then it hit 7-year-old Celine in the side and exited through her lower back.
Andreas “Andy” Rubio, 20, is suspected of firing shots outside the girls’ home in the 100 block of Osceola Street on Sunday night in what investigators call a failed effort at revenge. He turned himself in late Wednesday.
The girls were not the intended target, but they paid the price as the bullet sailed into their bedroom.
Kenia thought she was dying.
“She said, ‘Mom, I am dying, and I love you so much,’ and she closed her eyes,” Michelle Venzor said.
Celine says she doesn’t remember much about the shooting but knows her sister tried to help her by pulling her away from the window in case more bullets came through.
“All I remember is I was just covered in blood,” Celine said. “I felt sad. I mean, how can someone do this to me and my sister? It’s just so painful.”
Police say Violet Garcia, who lives near the Venzor family, was the target.
Garcia had had problems with Terra Ramirez, a woman she refused to give money to so Ramirez could post bond for a boyfriend in the Jefferson County Jail, according to an arrest affidavit.
Ramirez decided to enlist friend Natalie McFarlane, 19, and McFarlane’s boyfriend, Rubio, to get back at Garcia for not giving her the money, the affidavit said.
When the three got together, Ramirez told McFarlane and Rubio that she wanted Rubio to shoot at Garcia’s house, authorities said.
Ramirez gave Rubio a description of Garcia’s home. McFarlane said Rubio then got out of a car and walked north on Osceola carrying the rifle, according to the affidavit. A car parked on the street was hit by bullets, and Juan Anzo, who lives in a nearby house, was cut in the face by flying glass, court documents said.
McFarlane and Ramirez have been arrested on assault and weapons charges.
When he appeared in court Thursday, Rubio flashed his middle finger. He is being investigated for attempted murder with extreme indifference to the value of human life, illegal discharge of a firearm and assault. Bail was set at $250,000.
Michelle Venzor was outraged when she heard of Rubio’s defiance in court.
“I am upset and furious at that,” she said. “I am going to do whatever it takes to keep him in jail. How dare he almost kill one of my babies and put his finger up like he is No. 1?”
Kenia was supposed to come home from the hospital Thursday, but she had a setback with her medication, Venzor said. Celine is home. Kenia can’t use her arms or her hands right now. She lost about two pints of blood.
The girls are graduates of modeling school and planned to have careers in that field.
Kenia, still traumatized from the shooting, is worried that her scars will keep her from her dream.
“The doctors say she is going to be fine, but their innocence is gone,” Venzor said.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-820-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
