A Denver woman fatally shot last night had been convicted of arson in the torching of a strip mall and prosecutors said she had gang ties.
The shooting victim, 21-year-old Katsina Roybal, was described by prosecutors during the Holly Shopping Center arson case as a Crip gang member.
Roybal was shot about 10 p.m. Monday on East 36th Avenue between High and Williams streets, police said.
Police said Roybal was sitting on a porch with a man when two or three men approached and shots were fired.
Police did not say whether all three men fired.
A man who was with her at the time, who has not been identified, was shot in the leg. He fled the shooting scene on foot but returned a short time later when officers arrived, said Sonny Jackson, a Denver Police Department. He was taken to a hospital, treated and released.
Roybal died at the scene.
Police have not arrested a suspect in the case.
In December of 2008 Roybal was charged along with eight co-defendants – who prosecutors described as gang members – as suspects in the torching of the Holly Shopping Center.
In August 2009 Roybal pleaded guilty to arson and possession of an explosive/incendiary device, according to court records.
The mall was burned down, prosecutors said, because it was a known hangout of rival gang members.
Roybal was sentenced to eight years probation and 125 hours of community service. She was ordered, with other defendants, to pay restitution of $1.9 million for the arson.
Roybal was born and grew up in east Denver and has a large extended family, including two younger sisters, ages 6 and 8, whom she was raising, said Betty Barcelona, Roybal’s aunt.
“She was a beautiful person, we are going to miss her,” Barcelona said. “She was just a joy to be around.”
Roybal was currently attending Metropolitan State College of Denver, Barcelona said.
Barcelona said her family is stunned by the shooting and they’re trying to piece together what happened.
James Gilbert, 69, a neighbor, said he was in his house when he heard shots being fired.
“Pop, pop, pop, pop,” Gilbert said Tuesday morning. “I though it was firecrackers.”
A short time after the shots, police officers were shining a flashlight in Gilbert’s window, he said.
An officer asked Gilbert if he had seen anything, and Gilbert told him he had not.
Jeff Crozier told 9NEWS he was standing on his porch when he heard what sounded like several shots followed by screams. He ran around the corner and found the female victim slumped on some stairs.
“I was just trying to check her pulse and see if she was alive, see where she was shot, but it was kinda difficult to tell,” Crozier said. “She’s got two kids and she died.”
Tuesday morning, Denver firefighters hosed blood off the front steps of a two-story, brick row home where the shooting happened.
Residents and passers-by stopped to look at the building where the Roybal died.
“I just wanted to see if the girl was all right,” Gilbert said.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
