A Pueblo welder has been arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder in the shooting death of a man outside a work yard.
Police were called to American Iron and Metal, 831 Santa Fe Drive, around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday on a report of a shooting.
Officers arrived and found a man who had been shot about 50 yards from the company’s yard, said Pueblo Police Sgt. Eric Bravo.
Bravo said the company has been hit by several thefts recently, including an attempt to break into an ATM on the property.
American hired security guards, and a company official also asked a welder who works for the company to help out on security issues, Bravo said.
The welder, David Lee Noriega, 45, of Pueblo, shot the man with an “assault-type pistol,” Bravo said.
Noriega told police the deceased man and another man were trying to break into the yard when he fired warning shots at them, and one hit the victim. Noriega told investigators the man who was shot came at him wielding a baseball bat.
Bravo said physical evidence at the scene and an account by a security guard contradicts what Noriega told investigators.
The company declined direct comment but released the following statement: “We employ security guards to help prevent theft and vandalism at our plants. Our guards are ordered to dispatch police at the sign of any intrusion.”
Guards may carry guns to protect themselves in “life-threatening” situations, the company statement said. The company is cooperating with the investigation, it said.
The victim has not been identified.
Noriega is being held at the Pueblo jail.
The man who was with the shooting victim fled the scene. Police do not suspect him of any crime and would like to talk with him, Bravo said.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
