An 18-year-old Greeley woman showing off photos of her children was shot to death Sunday night at Island Grove Park in an apparent gang-related killing.
Silvia Santillan was pronounced dead on arrival at North Colorado Medical Center shortly after 9 p.m. Santillan had left work earlier that night, went home to get new photos of herself and her two children and was at the park showing them to friends when the shooting occurred, said Paul Acuna, owner of Paul’s Funeral Service.
She was not a gang member but someone who got in the way of a gangster’s bullet, said Acuna, who talked to Santillan’s family Monday.
“There is a lot of cruising on Sunday, and that includes good and bad people,” Acuna said. “She was just a mother of two and a single mom.”
Santillan and her friends were in the grassy area of the park when a vehicle described as a dark pickup or sport utility vehicle pulled up, said Greeley police spokesman Joe Tymkowych.
Two males described as Latino with shaved heads got out of the vehicle, approached Santillan’s group and shot at least once with a handgun.
The bullet hit Santillan in the head, Tymkowych said.
A group of bikers camping out in the park called police.
“We’re thinking the shooting was gang-related, but we’ve made no absolute connection,” Tymkowych said. “It’s not known if she was the exact target (or) if she happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
About 1 p.m. Monday, a 22-year-old was shot in the arm in the 1600 block of Sixth Avenue in Greeley. His wounds were not life-threatening, Tymkowych said. It’s not known whether that shooting was related to the one at Island Grove Park.
“The victim said he didn’t see who did it, and the neighbors also didn’t hear or see anything,” Tymkowych said. “Right now we’ve got a lot more questions than answers.”
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
