GOLDEN — A plan to rob an Arvada Burger King last summer ended with a 30-year-old female employee lying dead in the walk-in freezer, prosecutors said Tuesday in opening statements of a first-degree murder trial.
Celia Meza was shot at close range in the back as she called 911 to report the robbery early on July 15 at the Burger King at West 64th Avenue and Ward Road, prosecutor Sean Clifford said.
Clifford said the triggerman was Anthony Lowe, then 21, one of four men who conspired to rob the fast- food restaurant.
On trial for murder with Lowe are Thomas Johns, who was 17; restaurant manager Anthony Cole, 21; and Lindell Mark Sample Jr., 18.
Lowe, Johns and Sample were former employees of the Burger King in the northwest metro suburb.
Johns’ attorney, Carolyn Palloux, said her client did not pull the trigger and was immature at 17. She told the jury to be aware that Cole, who will testify in the 10-day trial, has “cut a deal with the DA.”
