The number of homicides in Colorado Springs dropped in 2014 by more than a quarter to 23 — but one street in a southeastern neighborhood proved to be particularly deadly.
While the overall numbers are down, on a 350-yard stretch of Monterey Road, there were three murders in 10 months.
Efrain Murillo-Mejia, 32; Kenneth Bentley, 39; and Eugenio Solorio-Gomez Jr., 23, were all found dead on the street. For law enforcement officials, the clustering of homicides in a certain area of the city, and circumstances of how and when they occur, are often random and not easy to track down.
“In reality, when it comes to the homicides themselves, it’s so difficult because you never know what’s going to drive a homicide,” said Lt. Adrian Vasquez, who oversees the violent crimes section for the Colorado Springs Police Department.
“It really has nothing to do with where specifically the person lives or where they were at a specific time,” Vasquez said.
While it may not be possible to identify exact patterns, two areas with the most cases in 2014 have had the highest number in recent years.
The 80910 ZIP code, which includes the section of Monterey Road, had 10 homicides in 2014. The location of one homicide from 2014 is unknown.
The 80909 ZIP code borders to the north where there were four homicides in 2014 — the second-highest number.
Since 2011, more than 40 percent of all homicides in the city have occurred in those two ZIP codes.
In total, there were five homicides last year in which a suspect has not been identified. All occurred in those two ZIP codes.
“Although our homicide solve rate dropped a little bit, we’re making some good progress on those,” Vasquez said. “I certainly haven’t lost hope on a single one.”
El Paso County also saw a drop in homicides, going from 13 in 2013 to four in 2014. Three of the homicides occurred in May and one was in September.
