Christopher Pacheco loved play fighting with his sister, shooting pool and hanging out with family, his dad said Tuesday.
About 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, shots fired from a dark sport utility vehicle struck and killed the 21-year-old while he was playing pool with friends in the garage of his Lakewood home, police said.
“He’d give you the shirt off his back,” said Mel Pacheco, Christopher’s dad. “It’s a coward who pulled the trigger.”
Pacheco’s shooting in the 5600 block of West Mexico Avenue was one of three late Monday and early Tuesday that left three people dead and two injured, officials said.
Denver and Lakewood police searched for suspects to determine whether the shootings were related. “Right now, there’s nothing there that’s evident that that’s the case,” said Steve Davis, Lakewood Police Department spokesman.
Late Monday night, two men were shot in Denver and rushed to Denver Health Medical Center, where one died. The shooting happened after a fight broke out between two groups of men outside a liquor store on South Federal Boulevard and moved to West Ohio Avenue and Federal, police said.
In the third incident, two people were shot at a house in the 4300 block of Fillmore Street about 5:30 a.m. One man in his 40s was pronounced dead at Denver Health Medical Center, the coroner’s office said.
Neighbor Candi Abeyta, 55, didn’t know the victims personally but said residents of the home sold cotton candy, ears of corn and did landscaping work.
“These are not rowdy people,” she said. “I never see them fight with anybody.”
At 5:50 a.m., police evacuated the Geotech Environmental Equipment manufacturing facility at East 40th Avenue and Clayton Street because they suspected the gunman may have hidden inside.
Meanwhile, in Lakewood, more than 30 of Christopher Pacheco’s friends and family members gathered at a relative’s home. They said Pacheco was looking forward to his birthday celebration next month and that his father had given him an early present – a cue stick to go with his new pool table.
Mel Pacheco urged an end to the violence.
“The shooting’s got to stop,” he said as Christopher’s sister sobbed on his shoulder Tuesday afternoon.
Staff writers Nick Martin, Demetria Gallegos and Mike McPhee contributed to this report.
Staff writer Vimal Patel can be reached at 303-954-1638 or vpatel@denverpost.com.
