Thornton police say they think several people might have seen the killing of 16-year-old Nathan Bozonier after a party early Monday.
They were still hoping late Monday that some of those witnesses might tell them what they saw.
“Whoever knows, who knows something, come forward,” the teenager’s brother, Ron Bozonier, told 9News. “Because no one deserves to die, but he died pretty brutal, and he wasn’t asking for it.”
Nathan Bozonier was hit by a car about 1:30 a.m. Monday, then beaten by the occupants of that car.
Nathan was a freshman at Skyview High School, said his brother, who called him “a great little brother to have.”
Ron Bozonier said his brother was dragged by the car, then beaten with a baseball bat.
As Nathan Bozonier was being assaulted in the 2000 block of Dichter Court — about a block from the party — a melee erupted involving as many as 10 people, said Matt Barnes, a spokesman for the Thornton Police Department.
No arrests had been made as of about 6 p.m. The cause of the fights had not yet been determined, Barnes said.
“We are still trying to speak to additional witnesses,” Barnes said. “At this point, not a lot of people feel like coming forward.”
Bozonier’s brother and friends also were trying Monday to find witnesses and encourage them to come forward.
“These guys knew firsthand who some of the people were, and we just wanted to get some addresses,” Ron Bozonier said.
The attackers were described as Latino males between 17 and 23 years old. Their car was described as a light-colored four-door sedan with a darker-colored front fender.
“They will be punished in this life or the next,” Ron Bozonier told 9News.
His brother was always willing to help others, he said.
“He was a teenager, and of course there’s things teenagers do, but for the most part, he was a good kid,” he said. “Some people, they gang-bang. They look for it. He wasn’t like that. He, unfortunately, had some friends that did, and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Police said earlier Monday that they had not found evidence that the assault was gang-related.
Anyone with any information is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
