A man already in jail after a June 9 stabbing death was charged Tuesday with the June 3 murder of Commerce City store owner Dung Le.
According to the charges, robbery was the alleged motive when Juan Carlos Lopez, 28, shot and killed Le inside the Dollar Value Plus store at 5765 E. 63rd Place.
Lopez also faces first-degree murder charges in the stabbing death of 24-year-old Stephen Ramirez nearly a week later at Ramirez’s home in the 1200 block of West 46th Avenue, the case for which he was initially arrested June 11. The men were fighting when Lopez stabbed Ramirez to death, Denver police said.
Lopez remains in Denver County Jail.
Le, 44, a Vietnamese immigrant, left behind a wife and 5-year-old daughter. He was killed behind the register of his store, where he had worked seven days a week in the two months after he was laid off from his job as a design engineer.
His family said he was preparing to declare bankruptcy and to close the store.
Commerce City police referred questions about the case to the Adams County district attorney’s office. A spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Lopez has a lengthy criminal record, with past charges that include criminal mischief, drunken driving, drug possession and contempt of court, as well as failure to appear and fugitive warrants.
