Lakewood police were trying to determine the motive behind a fatal shooting after arresting a 16-year-old boy in connection with the case, officials said Friday.
“We haven’t heard of any clear motive,” said Steve Davis, Lakewood police spokesman.
The boy was arrested about 1:30 a.m. Friday, but his name was not released because he is a juvenile, Davis said.
He is being held at Mount View Detention Center for investigation into the murder of Christopher A. Pacheco.
Pacheco, 21, was shot by someone in a passing car while in his garage at 1:25 a.m. Tuesday at 5664 W. Mexico Ave., Davis said. Pacheco was transported to a local hospital where he died of his injuries.
Davis said homicide detectives are investigating whether there were other people in the car during the shooting and who they are.
“It’s unclear how many people were in that car,” he said.
But police continue their investigation and have made no additional arrests. It is unknown when the juvenile suspect will make his first court appearance, Davis said.
The Jefferson County district attorney’s office will decide whether there are sufficient aggravating factors to warrant charging the boy as an adult, he said.
Investigators received numerous tips and interviewed several witnesses who identified the boy as a suspect, Davis said.
Police confirmed that the boy has gang ties, he said.
“There’s no indication the victim had any ties to gangs,” he said.
Detectives intend to interview the suspect. He is a juvenile, so it is more difficult to interview the boy because his guardian must give permission, Davis said.
Davis said there is no evidence linking Pacheco’s murder to the other two fatal shootings last Monday night and early Tuesday morning in Denver.
At 9:30 p.m. Monday, two men were shot – one fatally – following a fight outside a South Federal Boulevard liquor store. Roberto Perez-Juarez, 26, was killed, said Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
Four hours after the Lakewood homicide, two other men were shot – one fatally – in the 4300 block of Fillmore Street in Denver. Eusebio Barboza-Aguilar, born in 1969, was killed, Jackson said.
Police released a composite sketch Friday of a person they believe is involved the shooting. He is described as a man in his late teens or early 20s with either a neck tattoo or bruises. He was wearing a white, short-sleeve button-down shirt with blue or green horizontal stripes or some other type of print pattern, blue or dark colored below-knee-length shorts, white socks and white tennis shoes.
No arrests have been made in the Denver shootings, Jackson said.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
