A 4-year-old boy named Angel was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in the parking lot of a large Montbello neighborhood apartment complex Sunday afternoon.
Police are searching for a black Ford Explorer and the three men who were in it when it struck the boy about 3 p.m. at The Villages at Gateway apartments at 12175 Albrook Drive, on the corner of Peoria Street and Albrook, said police spokesman Detective John White.
The boy was apparently helping his mother move her cleaning from the laundry room when he was hit, White said. The boy was taken by ambulance to the Medical Center of Aurora South, where he died.
White said details of the incident are under investigation, “but the one thing we do know is that there is a dead 4-year-old, and we’re looking for a black Explorer and three Hispanic males, one of them described as light-complected and wearing a white cowboy hat.”
The boy’s name wasn’t officially released, but other residents of the complex said his name was Angel.
A 12-year-old boy who lives in the complex said Angel was put in a white van while his mother carried her laundry back and forth.
The boy got out of the van on his own and played for a while on the lawn of the complex.
At some point he ended up in the parking lot and was hit by the black Explorer, the boy said.
“The guy got down from the black Explorer and saw the kid, then he got back in and he ran away,” said the boy, whose name is being withheld because he is a witness to a crime and the suspects haven’t been caught.
Residents said the driver of the vehicle was wearing a cowboy hat and a black shirt.
“They always drive too fast through here, some of them,” the boy said.
Alondra Murillo, 21, agreed. She said that in light of this accident, residents planned to meet with the management of the apartment complex to address the issue of speeding in the parking lot.
Staff writer Jim Kirksey can be reached at 303-820-1448 or jkirksey@denverpost.com.
