The October shooting that injured Broncos wide receiver Josh Reynolds was a “coordinated, organized” attack involving multiple suspects, a prosecutor with the Denver District Attorney’s Office said in court Monday.
Denver police arrested a third suspect in the attack last week, police confirmed Monday.
“This was a violent, vicious attack on the citizens of Denver County,” prosecutor Holly MacDonald said. At least 30 rounds were fired into the vehicle carrying Reynolds and his companions, she said.
Denver police confirmed the arrest of a third suspect in connection with the shooting. Dirk Lisica-Lange, 31, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of attempting to influence a public servant, a low-level felony, according to the police department.
Additional information about Lisica-Lange’s involvement was not immediately available. Court records that detail the allegations against him were sealed from public view Monday and he could not be reached for comment.
In court Monday, MacDonald argued that bail should not be lowered for one of the three suspects charged in the case, Luis Mendoza, 35.
“This was a coordinated, organized assault on three victims, largely with Mr. Mendoza being the one coordinating this attack,” she said.
His release from custody now would allow him to “tamper with witnesses” amid the ongoing police investigation, she said.
Mendoza’s attorney, Beth Drombroski, argued that Mendoza should be released on bond so he could care for his 8-year-old daughter and wife, who is about to undergo a life-altering emergency surgery.
Denver County Court Judge Andre Rudolph declined to reduce Mendoza’s $300,000, cash-only bond.
Mendoza and Burr Charlesworth, 42, were arrested and charged days after the shooting. They are both charged with six counts of attempted murder, assault and other felonies.
Reynolds was shot Oct. 18 after he left Shotgun Willies, a strip club in Glendale. Mendoza is accused of following Reynolds and his group into the strip club and watching them until they left the club around 2:45 a.m.
Mendoza then joined with other people in at least three vehicles, and the three vehicles followed Reynolds, who was in a Ford Bronco, police allege.
The drivers chased Reynolds on Colorado Boulevard, Interstate 25, East Hampden Avenue and back onto I-25, where dozens of rounds were fired into the Ford Bronco, MacDonald said.
Around 3:10 a.m. near I-25 and East Belleview Avenue, Reynolds and his companions abandoned the Ford Bronco — which was disabled by gunfire — on the side of the interstate and ran.
All three called 911 minutes later near South Quebec Street and Union Avenue, according to an arrest affidavit, which noted at least one caller sounded like they were still running.
Reynolds was shot twice, in the left arm and the back of the head, and another man was shot in the back, according to the affidavit. A third victim was wounded by shattered glass, and all three of them were scraped from climbing over a fence.
Mendoza and Charlesworth are both due back in court on Dec. 16.
