Aurora – The man gunned down in the street during a robbery Monday night sang in a band and sent money he earned doing landscaping work to his mother in Guatemala.
Authorities have not released his name, but family members identified him as Randy Aguilar, 25, of Santa Rosa, Guatemala.
Neighbors and family members said several gunshots awoke them Monday night about 11 p.m.
“They were trying to assault him and rob him in front of his family,” neighbor Frank Vandenberg said. “We didn’t hear a struggle, just gunshots.”
Regino Aguilar, the victim’s uncle, said his nephew was with his girlfriend and her son, who is 2 or 3, when the shooting took place.
Bob Friel, Aurora police spokesman, said three men were robbing the victim and shot him in the upper body several times.
A police officer who lives nearby heard the gunshots, rushed to the scene and found a man lying on the street, Friel said. Aguilar was pronounced dead at the scene.
Other police officers spotted three men walking away near the intersection of East 12th Avenue and Akron Street. Police interviewed the men, considered persons of interest, but later released them, Friel said. Police did not have evidence linking them to the shooting, he said.
Authorities do not know why Aguilar was targeted.
Monica Garcia, Randy Aguilar’s aunt, said her nephew and his father moved to Colorado two years ago to earn money to send home to the family.
He was a singer for a group called Viajeros Musical, or musical travelers, Garcia said.
He worked hard, was easy-going and never got into trouble, she said.
His father was making funeral arrangements Tuesday afternoon. The family had a candle outside the front door.
Vandenberg said the neighborhood is plagued with gang members and drug dealers. Gunshots can be heard almost every night, he said.
“Outside your home, it’s no longer your home, it’s their territory,” Vandenberg said of gangs.
Anyone who has information about the shooting is asked to call Aurora police Detective R.J. Wilson at 303-739-6106.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
