By Joey Bunch
The Denver Post
Mesa County authorities said little Wednesday about the circumstances of a shooting that left one man dead and three others wounded late Tuesday evening.
Marco Ramon Acosta-Estrella, 50, died from multiple gunshot wounds after the assault at his apartment at 468 Mae St. in Clifton, a community just east of Grand Junction.
Three others were treated and released at a local hospital.
Though authorities would not confirm a connection, a neighbor, Michael James Simpson, 24, was booked into the Mesa County Jail early Wednesday on charges of willful homicide and three counts of aggravated assault with a gun. He was being held without bond Wednesday evening.
Mesa County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Mary Gonzales said Wednesday, “We’re not confirming anything.”
“The DA’s office, the coroner’s office and the sheriff’s office is looking at this,” she said. “We’re releasing very little at this time, because there’s still a lot left to do, and we don’t want to jeopardize the investigation
Police were called when neighbors heard a barrage of gunfire at the home at about 10:30 p.m.
Police dogs and investigators from multiple jurisdictions were going door to door in the neighborhood after the shooting to look for other potential suspects or victims, Gonzales said just before midnight Tuesday.
A call to the Acosta home Wednesday afternoon was not answered.
Wilma Stringer lives across the street but said she did not know the residents of the apartment, who had lived there since about January.
She heard her small dog “raising a ruckus” about the activities outside, then she heard the gunshots.
Another neighbor, Ricky Romero, told the Grand Junction Sentinel newspaper he called 9-1-1 a loud argument erupted.
He waved his arm at arriving deputies to alert them to the fleeing Dodge Caravan, which led to the arrest, he told the newspaper.
Residents there had been partying since early in the day, Romero told the Daily Sentinel.
