A teenager died Tuesday after being shot several times in the back at an Aurora apartment complex, and police are holding a couple who tried to leave the property afterward.
The boy, characterized as 14 to 16 years old, has not been named. Aurora police spokeswoman Cassidee Carlson said his identity was not clear.
“What the juvenile was doing in that neighborhood is still under investigation,” she said.
Eric Holloway, 23, and Tiffane Ward, 22, were stopped by a maintenance worker as they tried to leave the Telegraph Hill II Condominiums at East Harvard Avenue and South Peoria Street just before noon. They are being held without bail.
A witness who had been walking her dog alerted maintenance worker Ray Ruiz after the shooting. He ran to the wounded teen.
“His eyes were rolling back in his head, and he was drawing his last breaths,” Ruiz said. “It was pretty shocking.”
As he went for help, the woman pointed to a couple trying to leave. Ruiz said he ran to his truck and tried to use it to block the pair. As they tried to maneuver around him, police arrived.
Another teen also had confronted the alleged gunman, Ruiz said.
“He beat up that kid,” Ruiz said. “If he hadn’t gone back to fight that kid, he could have gotten away.”
Ruiz said he did not know either teen, and he has worked at the complex for six years. The apartments are about a block from Overland High School, and he said students often cut class and hang out in the park in the complex.
Ruiz said the fracas happened near Ward’s unit, possibly starting inside it. Police obtained a warrant for the apartment and the couple’s sedan, Carlson said.
After more than four hours of questioning Tuesday afternoon, Holloway was charged with first-degree murder, a charge that applied to cases involving premeditation or during the commission of another crime, including burglary, kidnapping and robbery.
Ward is being charged as an accessory to the killing.
Public records list Ward’s home address at the complex. Holloway has a Denver address. Neither has a significant criminal history, records show.
Carlson would not comment on the circumstances that might have led to the gunfire.
Anyone with information about the teen or the shooting can call Aurora police at 303-627-3100 or Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. Tips also can be sent to Crime Stoppers by text to 274637 (CRIMES) with the title DMCS.
