A 21-year-old Aurora man was shot to death early Tuesday as he wrestled with a roommate over a shotgun, police say.
The man was found with a shotgun wound to the upper torso at 1:50 a.m. in an apartment in the 2000 block of South Vaughn Way, said Shannon Lucy, Aurora police spokeswoman.
The victim, whose name has not been released, was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 2:15 a.m.
The victim had been out earlier in the evening with a friend. When the two men returned to the apartment, they were arguing, Lucy said. Another resident of the apartment called police, she said.
The case is under investigation, Lucy said.
Additional local news briefs:
WHEAT RIDGE
Sex assault reported by high school student
A Wheat Ridge High School student reported being sexually assaulted by an unknown male Monday while she walked home from school, police said Tuesday.
The assault reportedly occurred between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. in the area of West 36th Avenue and Independence Street, said police spokeswoman Lisa Stigall.
She said no description of the suspect was available.
The student returned to school Tuesday while police searched for the suspect, Stigall said. She asked anyone with information to call Wheat Ridge police at 303-237-2220.
JEFFERSON COUNTY
Fourth suspect in homicide arrested
A fourth suspect in a Jefferson County homicide investigation has been arrested in Aurora.
Aurora police say they found Adam Zamora, 20, about 7:30 p.m. Monday in an apartment in the 900 block of South Walden Way. An anonymous tip to CrimeStoppers led to his capture, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.
Zamora has been at large since the body of 20-year-old Dylan Newman was found April 3 in a garage at 6412 W. Morraine Place, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Zamora is being held without bail on suspicion of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery.
Three other suspects – Aaron Zamora, 19; Jeffery DePault, 20; and Eric Matthew Rooney, 17 – were arrested April 4 and face similar charges. Rooney, of Littleton, is being charged as an adult, according to the Jefferson County district attorney’s office.
PUEBLO
Attack on student possible hate crime
Authorities are investigating a suspected hate crime involving a Centennial High School student who says he was attacked by five youths last week because of his sexual orientation.
The 15-year-old student said he was walking home from school April 5 when a carful of teens stopped and someone began throwing things at him and using derogatory language, officials with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Pueblo said Tuesday.
One of the attackers struck the youth in the face with a spray can, causing severe damage to his face and breaking his nose, said his mother.
DENVER
Democrats launch ’08 convention website
The Democratic Party has launched its official website to promote its 2008 national convention in Denver, officials said Tuesday.
The site, www.demconvention.com, is to provide regularly updated information about the convention, as well as historic information about past conventions.
Sites with similar Web addresses are being used by protesters.
BOSTON
New trial upheld for student from Colo.
Massachusetts’ highest court Tuesday upheld a judge’s decision to grant a new trial to a former Harvard graduate student from Colorado who was convicted of stabbing a teenage hotel cook to death during a street fight in Cambridge.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court found that Superior Court Judge Regina Quinlan was correct when she overturned the manslaughter conviction of Alexander Pring-Wilson, originally from Colorado Springs, in the 2003 death of 18-year-old Michael Colono.
During his 2004 trial, Pring-Wilson, 29, testified that he stabbed Colono in self-defense. Prosecutors alleged that Pring-Wilson was the aggressor.
Quinlan, who presided at Pring-Wilson’s trial, overturned her conviction eight months later, saying the jury should have been told about violent episodes in Colono’s past.
WASHINGTON
Colo. to get $325,000 to protect sage grouse
Colorado will get $325,000 in federal funds this year to remove noxious plants and trees on public lands that harm the Gunnison sage grouse, the Bush administration announced Tuesday.
The funds are part of a $3 million package for the Healthy Lands Initiative, a new federal program to protect wildlife and restore vegetation in areas damaged by energy development, recreation and population growth.
