A 19-year-old woman shot in a bus terminal underneath Denver’s Union Station on Monday is on life support and not expected to survive, prosecutors said in court Wednesday morning.
Jakiem Whitham, 19, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder, felony menacing, first-degree assault with a deadly weapon, second-degree assault and use of a prohibited large capacity magazine, according to court records.
Whitham allegedly shot the woman after he fought with another man over a gun on the stairs of the Regional Transportation District bus station, according to a probable cause statement released by Denver County Court.
Surveillance video showed Whitham shove the other man and hit him in the face with the gun twice, the document states. While the two wrestled over the weapon, a shot was fired, hitting the woman on the escalator.
The bullet shot straight through her neck and lodged itself in the wall of the RTD station, said Amelia Sapp, an attorney with the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
Before the shooting, Whitham was spotted on security cameras with the woman following the other man and several of his friends, according to court documents. He threatened them, showed him his gun and approached them on an RTD train.
Investigators said Whitham and the woman knew each other, but it’s unclear what their relationship was.
The woman is currently on life support at Denver Health Medical Center and likely won’t survive her injuries, doctors told police in the probable cause statement. She was still alive Wednesday afternoon.
Denver officers responded to the shooting at the terminal in the 1600 block of Chestnut Place at about 9:51 p.m. Monday. Regional Transportation District staff were alerted to the shooting 10 minutes later.
Whitham was out on bail in a separate felony assault case out of Arapahoe County when the shooting happened, according to court records.
In that case, he faces 10 felony charges, including five counts of assault, two counts of robbery, two counts of menacing with a weapon and one count of using a prohibited large capacity magazine, court records show. Three violent crime sentence enhancers were added to that case.
He posted bond in the Arapahoe County assault case on March 28.
Whitham is being held in Denver’s Downtown Detention Center on a $1 million cash-only bond and is next scheduled to appear in court Monday morning.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
