Eight suspects, including six juveniles, have been arrested after an 18-year-old man was lured to a stolen vehicle where he was beaten, and later shot, police said.
Once inside the stolen vehicle, the victim was forced to disrobe and photographs were taken of him, according to an Arvada Police Department media release.
The suspects went to the victim’s home, which they burglarized and where they stole two additional vehicles belonging to the victim’s parents. Also stolen was a flat screen television and an Xbox.
During the ordeal, the victim was shot in the leg and later dumped naked on the side of a highway.
The victim, naked, bloodied, shot and bruised — including two black eyes — found his way to an Adams County hotel on Pecos Street where he asked a clerk to call an ambulance.
He was taken to a local hospital with multiple serious injuries, which included “substantial risk” of impairment or loss of an organ, according to an attending physician.
Two adults and six juveniles have been arrested on suspicion of first-degree kidnapping, attempted first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, robbery and other charges connected to the Jan. 27 incident, police said.
The adults arrested in the case are Anthony Xavier Villegas and Alaya Lovata, both 18, according to an arrest affidavit.
The victim was beaten by multiple people and also pistol whipped, the affidavit said. He was also threatened at gun point. Assailants threatened to kill the victim and his “entire family.”
According to the affidavit, the victim was shot at close range inside a vehicle when the driver pushed the barrel of a hand gun against his leg and fired. The victim was dumped from the vehicle and fearing for his life he scrambled over a jersey barrier for cover.
The vehicle left and the victim, bleeding profusely in the freezing cold of night, feared that he was going to die, the affidavit said.
