Thornton police Friday arrested two men and a woman on suspicion of fatally beating a 16-year-old boy early this week after hitting him with a car.
Arrested were Antonio Rios, 19, Adrian Ray Quintana, 22, and Lakiesha Vigil, 20, all of Thornton.
They are being held on suspicion of first-degree murder in the death of Nathan Bozonier, who got caught up in a gang fight after leaving a party about 1:30 a.m. Monday, according to police.
Police said Bozonier is not believed to have been a gang member. As part of their policy, police refused to identify the gangs involved.
Bozonier was with a group of people walking from a party at 1930 Dichter Court in Thornton when another group in two cars drove up and began taunting them, police said. A fight among an estimated 20 people ensued.
It’s believed that Bozonier was hit by one of the cars. The car then stopped, and two men, believed to be Rios and Quintana, got out and began beating Bozonier with a metal baseball bat. Vigil allegedly was driving the vehicle, police said.
With help from witnesses, police recovered the car — a white 1996 Nissan Maxima four-door sedan — two days later at Los Compadres Auto Repair Shop, 7255 Ivy St. in Commerce City. Police said the vehicle’s owner was not in custody and was cooperating with police. The car was not stolen.
The baseball bat was recovered four days later from two girls who found it in Remington Park, 9200 Ash St. Police, tipped by witnesses, searched the park for the bat and couldn’t find it. They canvassed the neighborhood and issued fliers at nearby schools. One of the girls read the flier and told her mother she found the bat. The mother called police and turned it over to them.
Bozonier was a freshman at Skyview High School.
On Monday, his brother, Ron, told 9News he was “a great little brother to have.”
“He was a teenager, and of course there’s things teenagers do, but for the most part, he was a good kid,” he told the TV station. “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.”
Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
