Robinson and Celena Miller were hoopers at the University of Denver at the time, and one day on the walk to the arena to prepare for a game, Miller broke out in song.

“The first time I really heard her sing, I was speechless and I was stunned,” Robinson recalled. “It was a situation where we were walking along, and she thought she could drop a couple notes and it wasn’t going to be a big deal. But I stopped in my tracks and was like, ‘Wait, what? You can °ů±đ˛ą±ô±ô˛âĚýsing.’

“‘So don’t stop. You need to run that back, Celena. Like, you need to sing to me all the time. And right now, I need a few more bars out of you. Go ahead and sing that song and absolutely jam it.'”

Fast forward nearly two decades, and Miller is still chasing the confluence of two dreams.

The Denver East girls hoops coach was named the 2026 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s on March 26 at the NCAA Final Four in Phoenix. And while the Hinkley High School alum has been a critical part of Angels head coach Carl Mattei’s staff as the program returned to relevance with consecutive Denver Coliseum appearances, Miller keeps belting out notes that are impossible to ignore.

Under her stage name Lady Los, Miller is one of the top R&B singers in Colorado. Her smooth, soulful voice earned her . She’s performed all around the city, including as an opener for Grammy Award-winning artists Common and Durand Bernarr, and has sang at out-of-state festivals.

Mattei lauded Miller, who coaches the Angels’ C-team and works with the varsity guards, as a unicorn at the intersection of sports and music.

“She’s able to prioritize both basketball and singing/songwriting, and prioritize her time to where she can have extreme success at both,” Mattei said. “She’s a rarity in that sense. She has these dual passions she pursues with equal force.

“When she told me she opened for Common, I’m like, ‘OK, what can’t you do?’ And then she just starts giggling. I’m like, ‘OK, whatever Celena, see you at practice.’ Just imagine me opening for Whitney Houston, and how absurd that would be.”

Finding harmony in dual pursuits

Miller, who originally got to know Mattei by playing for his Mile Hi Magic club, grew up in a musically inclined household. She and her family would sing at church, on the way to games, and harmonize together in the living room.

As a player, Miller was a “tough, greedy kind of a guard in terms of her competitive demeanor and a take-no-prisoners kind of mentality,” explained CU assistant coach , who was Miller’s point guard coach at DU.

Miller translated that fierceness from her game into her coaching, noting that “nothing matters more to me than being able to empower young women through basketball and give them something that they can invest in themselves for their entire life, much like how this game helped fuel my journey through my music career.”

“I hope people can see what the girls on our team are doing — how they’re growing, improving, and succeeding — and I hope it makes them want to come play at East (and not open enroll elsewhere),” Miller added. “I hope they know they’re going to have the best preparation for playing at the next level and they don’t have to leave the city to do that.”

Miller started her coaching career as an assistant at Kent Denver, where she also taught PE. It was during that time that she realized she was in danger of leaving her music dream in the dust. She was a singer in multiple bands, but wasn’t pursuing music full-time.

“The kids were asking me about how I was going after my goals in music, and I realized, I couldn’t speak from experience that I didn’t have,” Miller said. “When they asked me about basketball and how to get somewhere they wanted in the game, I had answers, because I had done that.

“But at that time, I was dedicating all my time and focus to my career, which was education and coaching. And I kept asking myself, ‘Would you be more disappointed if you didn’t even try?’ I had coaches who told me, ‘You only regret the things you don’t do.’ And I didn’t want to have that regret.”

So Miller quit her job as a teacher and dove head-first into music. That was right when the pandemic hit, but Miller pressed on anyway despite not being able to tour.

She officially began her solo career as in 2022, and also founded her own record label and fashion line around the same time, Lady Los Productions. Her upcoming performances are at Equinox Brewing on April 25 as part of, at Two Moons Music Hall on April 30 as part of Freshmode Fest’s , and at Apprentice of Peace Youth Organization on May 1 as part of TheRAPy Sessions.

Robinson says that over the last six years, her favorite part of watching Miller’s full evolution into Lady Los “has been watching her find herself. “

“As a player, Celena always knew the type of player that she was, what she could bring to the game, and she understood where her talent lies,” Robinson said. “It’s the same thing in music. She’s using her craft almost in the same way she did with hoops, to make people feel something.

“For her, the joy of the game is equally tied to the joy of music. She’s finding a way to feel that joy in her life but also when she performs, and people hear her music and the soul that she puts into it, she’s finding a way to give people that joy as well.”

In addition to Miller’s fashion line, the 39-year-old has a day job as a booking agent for a tattoo studio. She’s working on her second studio album while collaborating on singles with various Denver artists and producers and performing with her band, the Moonbeams.

Miller’s ultimate goal is to continue to establish Lady Los, and to sign  for her music to be on shows, movies, and ads. She also wants to be a nationally recognized songwriter.

Amid all that, basketball remains at the forefront, too.

“I want to be able to still be in the gym, coaching basketball, cultivating the next generation of basketball stars and point guards,” Miller said. “I also want to be successful landing some gigs (in the music sphere) so I’m not having to stress about daily income, so that I’m able to invest my time and energy and expertise in the gym at Denver East.

“And so when (the bigger music breakthroughs) come, I hope I’m still there and that we’re still doing this and that we have a state championship under our belt. To be able to accomplish both of those pursuits, that would be the ultimate gift.”

A similar trend played out not just in Lindstrom’s other classes, but in other buildings across the district amid news reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had planned raids in the city on that day last week, according to teachers who spoke to The Denver Post.

“The fear I have heard and seen out of students and families is the worst I’ve seen,” Lindstrom said. “(Last) Thursday, in particular, there was a fear of ICE in schools, specifically.”

On Wednesday, just as attendance was recovering, the federal government launched large-scale immigration enforcement operations in Aurora and Denver, with sometimes-masked officers knocking on apartment doors demanding residents show identification.

For more than a decade, schools were off limits for immigration officials. But the that previously prevented arrests at schools and other “sensitive” locations, such as churches. The change in federal immigration policy has spurred the Aurora and Denver districts to train school staff on what to do if ICE agents show up on campus.

School boards governing both districts have also reaffirmed their support for all students regardless of immigration status — a step that the Aurora Board of Education took by passing a the evening before the immigration raids.

“We do stand behind our families and our staff and our students,” board president Anne Keke said during the board’s meeting Tuesday evening.

None of Wednesday’s raids took place in schools, but the fear they could have now was apparent in statements issued by state and local officials.

“In Colorado, we have a proud history of leading the way in ensuring that our public schools are places where every student feels safe and supported,” Colorado State Board of Education Chair Rebecca McClellan said in a statement. “Colorado state law protects individuals from discrimination and harassment in schools based on national origin. At the federal level, the U.S. Supreme Court¶¶Ňőap decision affirms the right of every student to a free public education.”

A false rumor also spread among a group of state legislators Wednesday morning that ICE officers had either waited at bus stops for families or had actually stopped a school bus. Instead, ICE activity at the Cedar Run Apartments complex prevented Denver Public Schools’ buses from reaching a stop and five buses were re-routed, district spokesman Scott Pribble said.

“This morning, we learned of activity by law enforcement officials at an apartment complex in our community,” DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero said in a letter to families and staff. “At this time, there has been no law enforcement activity in our schools.”

Aurora Public Schools also did not have ICE agents waiting at its bus stops Wednesday, spokesman Corey Christiansen said.

The fear that ICE agents could show up at schools has led students to miss class in the past week — even before Wednesday’s raids, Lindstrom said.

Aurora Public Schools didn’t have data immediately available that showed how widespread student absences were, but Abbey Winter, a reading interventionist, said about 70 students were absent from the Aurora elementary school were she works on Jan. 30, the reported original date for the metro Denver raids.

“There’s an apprehension,” she said. “There’s definitely a notable shift in who’s missing.”

Lindstrom said attendance in his classes was slightly below normal Wednesday, but not as low as it was the previous week when he only had two students in his first period.

“Families weren’t aware of (the raids) until they already sent students to school and likely felt they were safer staying at school than leaving during that time and/or were already at work,” he said, adding, “I think people realize that the most dangerous point is the transition to and from schools, so staying home or staying at school is the safest place for them.”

The first came on Jan. 13 when Kennedy senior Keilani Venegas Alvarez dropped 64 points against Hinkley, overtaking the CHSAA single-game scoring mark of 61 set by ThunderRidge’s Abby Waner in 2005.

Five weeks later, Manual senior DeShawn Fox broke the single-game scoring record for the boys with 76 points against William Smith on Feb. 20, surpassing the 74-point bar set by Manual’s Chucky Sproling in 1987.

The scoring explosions by Venegas Alvarez and Fox generated both praise and criticism across social media and the Colorado basketball community, leaving some questioning the manner in which both marks were achieved and whether there is a right or wrong way to break a single-game record.

Denver East head coach Rudy Carey’s own internal debate, as Sproling’s coach at Manual when he broke the record under similar circumstances four decades ago, shows there’s no easy answers.

“I can’t point the finger,” Carey admits, “because I had the finger pointed back at me.”

The record-breaking performances

Venegas Alvarez got the watercooler debate going last month when in a

Hinkley, which won five games total over the past three seasons, finished 61st out of 62 teams in the Class 5A RPI while going 0-18. Due to injuries, Hinkley played the entire second half against Kennedy with only five players.

After Venegas Alvarez put up 40 points in the first half, Kennedy head coach Jamar Baker said he wasn’t made aware of Waner’s record until he went to pull Venegas Alvarez in the middle of the third quarter and the scorer’s table informed him she was only six points away.

“In my head, I was like, ‘There’s no way I can rob this kid of this moment,'” Baker said. “So I put her back in and told her to go get the record. Once she got the record early in the fourth quarter, I sat her down.”

Venegas Alvarez shot 27 of 44 from the field, 3 of 6 from 3-point range and 7 of 10 from the stripe. The senior finished with 18 steals, and the majority of her points came on fast-break lay-ups.

It was a similar theme in last week, when the senior was 37 of 40 from the field with no 3-point attempts and 2 of 3 from the free throw line in a

The majority of his points came via fast-break dunks or lay-ups as William Smith, like Hinkley, struggled to get the ball up the floor and possess it in the half-court. William Smith, which has won three games over the past three years, finished 1-11 this season and 53rd of 55 teams in the Class 3A RPI.

Manual head coach Omar Henry said the initial goal was to see Fox score 55. He had 36 points at half, and then he went on a 20-0 run to start the third quarter.

Fox eventually broke the record with about a minute to play in the third, then came out with the rest of Manual’s starters.

“After he went on that 20-0 run, we said to ourselves: ‘Do we think he can get it in the third?'” Henry said. “So we tried to get it (in that quarter). We wanted to give him a chance at it.”

Backstory of the old records

While this year’s record-setting performances in extreme blowouts resulted in criticism of Kennedy and Manual, the historic scoring tallies from Waner and Sproling both occurred in a similarly lopsided fashion.

Waner’s mark was set in a 97-26 demolition of Gateway, a struggling program that had nowhere near the size and talent of the Grizzlies, who capped that season with a third straight Class 5A title.

Waner had 25 baskets in that game, mostly fast-break lay-ups, as well as five 3s and six free throws to break the prior record of 59 set by Ridgway’s Tracy Hill in 1983. Hill and Waner remain No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in CHSAA’s all-time career and single-season scoring categories.

The Duke-bound senior had 47 points at halftime, and ThunderRidge worked around Gateway’s stall-ball tactic to keep getting Waner opportunities to score.

“We got a bit of (criticism) on the beginnings of social media and some chat boards,” recalled then-ThunderRidge coach Bill Bradley. “But the Gateway players were asking her for her autograph after the game. Abby was a player who, at that point in time, had a Caitlin Clark-like phenomenon going within Colorado.”

Waner led the state in scoring at 32.5 points per game that year and said the record “felt very appropriate to me at the time.”

“It was and is kind of like a good party story when someone asks, ‘What’s the most points you’ve ever scored?'” said Waner (now Waner Bartolotta). “But outside of that, what’s more important and more relevant to me is we won the championship that year.”

Eighteen years before Waner’s record, Sproling set his mark in a 138-56 win over Denver North, breaking the standard of 69 set by Kim’s Lane Gooden in 1976.

The St. John ‘s-bound junior led the state in scoring that season at 34 points per game. He registered a triple-double in his 74-point game against Denver North, which hadn’t won a game in over two years, with 30 field goals and 14 free throws in 27 minutes in the year before the arrival of the 3-point line.

“I wasn’t even trying to go for the record,” Sproling said. “We were playing the game, and the shots started dropping.”

After that game, Carey said he “heard (criticism) from everywhere.”

“I didn’t intend to set out to beat anybody like that,” Carey said. “When you’re playing 15 guys every quarter, I don’t know what else to do. Degrade them by laying on the court? I felt bad for the North kids, but my allegiance is to my kids and I have to manage them the best I can.”

Negative reaction to new records

The blowback to this year’s scoring records has been pronounced, due in large part to the availability of MaxPreps box scores and the viral nature of such performances on social media.

Carey himself said he had mixed emotions after Fox’s record.

“If the record is broken in the flow of the game and not in an intentional effort to break a record, (I’m good with it),” he said. “But to intentionally set out to break a record, and cherry-pick, and your main objective is to break a record, I’m not with that. I’m not laudatory of that.

“… I’m happy for (Fox), and the fact it was another Manual athlete was an exciting part for me. But I’m not sure I’m happy about how he broke it.”

Hinkley girls head coach Dawn Quintero said that she was “disappointed in the sportsmanship” by Kennedy in Venegas Alvarez’s record-setting game. She said most of her players are beginners in the sport.

“It’s not hard to see what our skill level was,” Quintero said. “I think they took advantage of it.”

Head coaches Jarris Krapcha of Eaglecrest, Enoch Miller of Roosevelt and Caryn Jarocki of Highlands Ranch all said they wouldn’t have chased the record, or continued to play their top players, in a game that was a 40-plus point difference at half.

“Embarrassing a team and pushing up scoring numbers in the second half (of a blowout) is just not me,” Miller said.

Jarocki questioned why both Venegas Alvarez and Fox were still in the game in the third quarter.

“Every time this record is brought up, it’s against a team that’s far inferior,” Jarocki said. “My philosophy is, if you’re going to break a record, it should be against somebody good in a game that’s actually competitive. If you’re winning by that much, why is your best player in the game?

“My other point is, ‘Why are you running up the score that much? Why aren’t you doing something to make it less embarrassing for the other team?’ Like no fast breaks, or not stealing the ball, or passing it five times before shooting or running through the offense with no shooting.”

Krapcha struck a similar tone.

“The consensus of coaches I’ve talked to is the way I feel, which is you automatically question, ‘Was it done with a level of sportsmanship and spirit of the game in consideration? Or was it strictly just chasing the record and embarrassing a team in the process?'” Krapcha said. “No one is really cheering it on.”

Kennedy’s and Manual’s defenses

Baker said he caught flack after Venegas Alvarez’s record, while Henry said most of the negativity for Fox’s record was directed at the player, much of it via Facebook.

Baker said he’s quick to remind detractors that “Abby did it the same way,” while also pointing out that the Commanders only had six players in their entire program.

“There were not really too many options to sub her or (other starters), unless you want me to start putting parents in the game,” Baker said. “If I had an actual bench, Keilani probably only plays a few minutes to start the third quarter.”

Baker also argued that the adversity that Venegas Alvarez endured over the past year underscored his decision to let her go for the record.

Venegas Alvarez missed most of 2022-23 with a high ankle sprain. Then over the summer, she went through rehabilitation at National Jewish Health to overcome exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction, a condition that caused her vocal cords to close while playing basketball.

“This record was a good way to finish off my high school career,” said Venegas Alvarez, who averaged 20.6 points this year. “After the high ankle sprain, and then my huge breathing problem that impacted me pretty severely, (this record) was also a way to show that basketball is something I could still do, in a game that I grew with.”

Henry also alluded to Sproling accomplishing his record against an outmatched team. He says William Smith principal Kristin Wiedmaier Collins and athletic director Kerri Burgs were at the game and congratulated Fox afterward. (Burgs and William Smith head coach Kristina Herrera did not respond to multiple emails requesting comment).

“We were not trying to run the score up,” Henry said.

“(Fox) is a great student that’s worked hard all four years, and we finally had somebody get close enough to break the record,” Henry added. “We felt like it was something he deserved, we were all behind him 100%.”

Fox, who is averaging 23 points ahead of Manual’s Class 3A state tournament opener on Friday, said he’s ignored the criticism on social media. He, like Venegas Alvarez, received a positive reaction within his school.

“(Fellow students) walk by me in the halls and say, ’76!'” Fox said. “(To those who criticize), they’d probably try to break the record if they got the opportunity. I say if you get the opportunity, go for it.”

To top it off, both players saw their college recruitment grow after breaking the record.

Venegas Alvarez got her first offer, from Waldorf University, after her 64-point showing. Meanwhile, Fox, who already had an offer from Phoenix College, said his recruiting increased after dropping 76.

Both Baker and Henry also echoed Carey’s sentiment regarding Sproling’s historic performance in 1987, saying it’s not their job to worry about the feelings or deficiencies of the other team.

“If you’re Hinkley, why wouldn’t you double-team (Venegas Alvarez)? Or make adjustments?,” Baker said. “I’m not going to mess with (Venegas Alvarez)’s mental and tell her not to shoot in the third quarter, when she was wide open or getting (fast-breaks).

“Same thing with (Fox) — if he’s scoring that much, (William Smith) should have to make a defensive adjustment, and force someone else to score. … I would tell (critics) ‘don’t rob a kid of the magnitude of this moment.'”

The legends’ reaction

Both Colorado high school legends expressed their congratulations to the new record-holders.

Waner said she feels for Hinkley as she did for Gateway in 2005, but she’s happy for Venegas Alvarez.

“I think once you get to a certain level, including varsity basketball in whatever classification, you kind of have to put on your big-girl pants and go play,” Waner said. “The competitive side in me probably wins out on this one.”

Sproling — who was in the stands for Fox’s record-setting game, but left early because of the lopsided score — is also happy for Fox, even though he said it was a “blatant, deliberate attempt by the Manual coaching staff (to break the record).”

“All records are made to be broken, and the way Lane Gooden congratulated me, I want to pass the torch to the next guy in the same way,” Sproling said. “76 points is 76 points, even if you get it in your own backyard or your driveway.”

Henry doesn’t think Fox’s record will last long with the modern game’s emphasis on offensive output.

“A lot of kids are going to shoot for it in the next few years because it has a different statistical meaning now,” Sproling said.

A national trend

After all, this isn’t just a Colorado thing.

Look around the nation and players dropping 60-plus points is no longer a rarity. Just this season, there have been a number of large scoring outbursts — the majority of them in blowouts.

On the boys side, the nation’s leading scorer, Benjamin (Texas) junior Grayson Rigdon, scored 72 in a 97-36 win on Feb. 6. Richmond Senior (North Carolina) senior Paul McNeil Jr. set a new state record with 71 points in a 118-52 win on Jan. 16.

For the girls, the nation’s leading scorer, Clairton (Pa.) junior Iyanna Wade, scored 65 in an 82-32 win on Jan. 25. And the nation’s No. 2 scorer, Rice (Texas) senior Saniya Burks, racked up 75 points in a 102-27 win on Feb. 2.

For some, those video game tallies dilute the significance of the record.

The all-time high school single-game scoring record for the boys is 135, set by Danny Heater in West Virginia in 1960. On the girls side a pair of Californians-turned-national-superstars top the archives: Cheryl Miller’s 105 in 1982, and Lisa Leslie’s 101 .

“The individual career points record, that’s more indicative of the type of player they are,” Krapcha said. “That means you’ve done it over four years and your team’s probably made some tournament runs. Also, total points in a state tournament and points per game for a whole season, those types of records hold more water.”

Jarocki said the single-game scoring record “never had luster for me to begin with.”

“I’ve had players who could’ve (scored 70) easily — but I would never make it like that in a blowout, because is that really sportsmanship?” she said. “A long time ago, CHSAA used to have a record of biggest margin of victory in the record book, and they took that away because that’s not very sportsmanlike. Maybe they should take this one away, too.”

Skeptics or not, Venegas Alvarez or Fox aren’t sweating it. It’s their name in the record books, after all.

“This record will always mean a lot to me,” Fox said. “I’ll tell my kids about it, my grandkids. Chucky was happy to have it for so long, and no matter (how long mine lasts), I will be too.”

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Correction: Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this story incorrectly reported that Manual principal Chris DeRemer called William Smith principal Kristin Wiedmaier Collins to discuss DeShawn Fox’s record-breaking game. The Post regrets this error. 2/29/24 2:16 p.m.

Carillo Hernandez, 19, was sentenced to five years in Pueblo’s Youthful Offender System, according to the district attorney’s office.

As long as Carillo Hernandez successfully completes the youthful offender program, he will avoid a 20-year prison sentence with the Department of Corrections, according to 18th Judicial District spokesman Eric Ross.

Carillo Hernandez was charged with four counts of attempted first-degree murder, a class two felony in Colorado. Other charges included counts of first-degree and second-degree assault and possession of a weapon on school grounds.

Carillo Hernandez — who was 17-years-old at the time of the shooting — was the fourth teen to be charged in connection with the Nov. 2021 shooting in the Aurora high school parking lot. Larry Renee Jefferson, Dalen Lenale Brewer and Diego Flores faced the same charges.

On Nov. 19, 2021, just before noon, surveillance cameras showed a white truck pulling into the school parking lot and stopping near another vehicle. Several people got out of both cars and began arguing. Shots were fired in the parking lot. Several students ran from the scene. The fight was later determined to be a confrontation between rival gang members.

Three students, two Hinkley students and one APS Avenues student, were injured in the shooting.

Dalen Brewer, 18, and Larry Jefferson, 17, were sentenced in Arapahoe County on second-degree attempted murder charges to seven years in the Youthful Offenders System.

On Nov. 19, 2021, just before noon, surveillance cameras showed a white truck pulling into the school parking lot and stopping near another vehicle. Several people got out of both cars and began arguing, and shots were fired in the parking lot. Several students ran from the scene. The fight was later determined to be a confrontation between rival gang members.

Brewer, the driver of the white truck, and Jefferson, who was in the passenger seat, could be seen in the surveillance footage shooting handguns out the windows.

Three students, two Hinkley students and one APS Avenues student, were injured in the shooting.

“These defendants put many lives at risk during what should have been a normal lunch hour on campus,” District Attorney John Kellner said. “Kids, their parents and teachers all deserve to feel safe at school. While no sentence can fully restore the lost feeling of security, it should deter future acts of senseless violence at school.”

A third defendant¶¶Ňőap case was sent to juvenile court for sentencing. Per juvenile statutes, the district attorney’s office did not release that defendant’s name or case file.

A fourth defendant, Alejandro H. Carillo, 19, will also be sentenced on April 17 after pleading guilty to second-degree attempted murder.

Editor’s note: This article was updated at 9:06 a.m. Thursday, April 13, 2023, to correct the charges on which the teens were sentenced, which were misstated due to the reporter’s error. The teens were charged with second-degree attempted murder in the 2021 Hinkley High School shooting.

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It wasn’t until nearly an hour later that Padilla learned that six fellow students had been shot at a park across the street from her high school. She made it home safe, but the shooting so near her school intensified a feeling that there is no place safe from gun violence, she said.

“I feel for some of us it’s just really stressful,” the 16-year-old said. “For me, I’m not really scared but I’m also not calm.”

The Nov. 15 shooting outside Aurora Central was the first of three mass shootings that injured 13 teenagers in Colorado’s third-largest city in less than two weeks. The shootings ignited peace rallies, emergency community meetings, gun buyback programs and increased school security across Aurora.

The rash of mass violence in November and a year-over-year increase in the number of teens killed and injured in Aurora shootings highlight what some city officials and community leaders described as a lack of attention by the city to the issue of youth violence until last year.

“We’re really behind, we’re where Denver was 15 to 20 years ago,” said Christina Amparan, who was hired in April to be Aurora’s youth violence prevention manager.

Eight teenagers have been killed in Aurora homicides in 2021, up from six killings apiece in 2020 and 2019, and two killings in 2018, according to Aurora police data.

The number of teens injured in Aurora shootings more than doubled between 2019 and 2021. Fifty-four teens have been shot in Aurora in 2021, up from 33 in 2020, 20 in 2019 and 26 in 2018.

Padilla felt tense returning to school two days after the shooting, but the day seemed eerily routine even after six kids were shot across the street.

“I feel like it¶¶Ňőap normalized now in society,” Padilla said. “We normalized it. It happened and we can’t go back and change it so we might as well move on. But it¶¶Ňőap not normal at all, it¶¶Ňőap not normal to be talking to your friends sitting at the park and suddenly get shot at.”

“It’s the way it is in this town”

Seven teens have been arrested in connection to two November shootings that happened outside of two different high schools during the school day.

Police arrested two 15-year-old boys in connection with the Nov. 15 shooting in the park across the street from Aurora Central. Because of their age, their criminal cases will proceed in juvenile court. Six teens were injured in the gunfire.

Police arrested four teens in connection with a Nov. 19 shooting in the parking lot of Hinkley High School, which disrupted a peace rally organized in response to the Aurora Central shooting four days prior. Prosecutors were able to charge those teens, all 16 or 17 years old, as adults as allowed in under Colorado law in serious felony cases.

One of the teens involved in that shooting spoke to police about what sparked the gunfire, which injured three teens. The 16-year-old told investigators he and his friends drove to the school to look for members of a gang with whom they’d had a longtime feud. He told police he and his friends knew there would be a fight and at least three of his friends had guns on them, including one who had an extended magazine.

One of the teens charged in connection with the shooting, 16-year-old Diego Flores, told police the group knew they’d need guns in the fight “because it’s the way it is in this town,” the affidavits show.

Nine days after the shooting outside Hinkley High, four teenagers and a 20-year-old were shot and injured in a shooting that police said was possibly connected to a party held at an East Colfax Avenue store. No arrests have been made in connection to that shooting.

Padilla said Aurora teens are arming themselves because they feel unsafe, or feel like guns will bring them social clout.

“They want to protect themselves from any attacker,” the sophomore said.

Filling the gap after voters cut funding

The rise in Aurora teen violence mirrors a deadly increase in teen violence in Denver. That’s because the two city’s problems stem from the same source, said Jason McBride, a violence prevention advocate with Struggle of Love.

“Aurora’s problems are Denver’s problems because Denver never handled the problem correctly,” McBride said. “Aurora’s known they’ve had a gang problem for a long, long time. I don’t think they’ve been ready for what¶¶Ňőap hit them the last few years.”

It’s Amparan’s job to address that problem. Her office has a $1.1 million budget and is currently exploring ways to give money to community organizations to do youth violence prevention and intervention work. The office currently employs Amparan, one prevention program coordinator and one outreach specialist. Amparan, who started her position in April, is hiring three more outreach specialists who will work directly with at-risk teens and a program coordinator who will focus on intervention efforts.

Her program was established to fill a gap when city leaders folded the Aurora Gang Reduction Impact Program after voters in 2018 ended the red light camera program that funded it.

A 2020 city proposal for the Youth Violence Prevention Program stated “at the current time, there is no program to conduct gang intervention or prevention work in the city of Aurora. Meanwhile, gangs and gang membership are proliferating, and gang-related crime and violence are increasing in the city.”

The gap between the end of A-GRIP, as the gang reduction program was known, and the creation of the Youth Violence Prevention Program stalled progress, Amparan said.

“If that program would’ve stayed in place we would’ve had a foundation and been able to build on it,” Amparan said. “But there are benefits to starting from scratch.”

Amparan’s office will not focus only on gangs but also on violent behavior overall, she said. Change will not be immediate, she said, as preventing violence means solving entrenched social problems like housing, hunger and opportunity.

“I hope that we as a community realize that a comprehensive approach and long-term funding is what is needed so that what happened with the A-GRIP program doesn’t happen again,” Amparan said.

The Aurora City Council and other city leaders are scheduled to discuss youth violence in a special study session at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“We have to find how young people are getting these handguns, what are the motivating factors behind this, what we can do from a law enforcement point of view and what we can do from a deterrence point of view to stop this,” Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman .

Community organizations ready to step in

While the city might be behind the curve, Aurora community organizations recognized the need for youth services years ago and have been providing them, said Tia Davis-Burns, program director of nonprofit organization A Promising Future.

“The disconnect is on the other end of it — they’re not being properly funded or acknowledged” by city officials, she said.

Violence is a symptom of underlying problems like unresolved trauma or a lack of safety, Davis-Burns said. The first step needs to be helping young people understand the value of their lives and those around them. That takes adults around them consistently showing up and being with them without an agenda. That means listening deeply and not dismissing their thoughts.

The city needs to offer money and resources — like access to city facilities — to already-existing organizations to use without making organizations overcome weeks of bureaucratic red tape, Davis-Burns said.

Struggle of Love hopes to expand its violence prevention programming into Aurora schools, McBride said. Other Denver-based programs, like Gang Rescue and Support Project and the city-operated Gang Reduction Initiative of Denver, also stepped in after the shootings outside the Aurora high schools.

But many of those programs are spread thin already addressing needs in Denver, McBride said.

Shana Shaw, founder of Aurora nonprofit group Compound of Compassion, said solutions to the problems need to come from the community’s young people. Compound of Compassion helped host dozens of “Safe Zones” over the last year after teens said they needed a safe place to hang out.

The city and community need a full-fledged violence prevention effort instead of being stuck in a reactionary position, triaging issues as they arise, Shaw said.

“Instead of candlelight vigils,” she said. “Instead of burying our babies.”

The 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office filed charges in Arapahoe County District Court on Monday against Alejandro Carillo Hernandez, 17, in the Nov. 19 shooting, according to a news release.

Hernandez faces four counts of attempted first-degree murder, a class two felony in Colorado. Other charges also include counts of first-degree and second-degree assault and possession of a weapon on school grounds.

Hernandez is the fourth teen to be charged in connection with this shooting. Larry Renee Jefferson, Dalen Lenale Brewer and Diego Flores, all 16,are also facing the same charges.

The two Hinkley students who were shot are 17, a male and a female. The third injured student is a 16-year-old male student from APS Avenues.

A school security officer returned fire when the shooting started around noon, police said, and applied a tourniquet to one of the wounded students. One of the three was taken by ambulance to a hospital, the other two were “self-transported.” The shooting allegedly stemmed from a fight in the school’s parking lot.

Aurora police announced the most recent arrest Friday, saying that the 17-year-old is being held on investigation of attempted first-degree murder. The teenage suspect was not identified.

Three other teen suspects, all 16, face multiple felony counts in the case and have been charged as adults. All three face four counts of attempted first-degree murder among other charges.

On Nov. 19, three students were shot — two 17-year-old Hinkley students, a male and a female, and a 16-year-old APS Avenues student.

A school security officer returned fire when the shooting started around noon, police said, and the officer applied a tourniquet to one of the wounded students. One of the three was taken by ambulance to a hospital, the other two were “self-transported.” The shooting stemmed from a fight in the school’s parking lot.

The Arapahoe County District Attorney’s Office filed charges Tuesday in connection to the Nov. 19 shooting, according to a DA’s news release. All three 16-year-old suspects face multiple felony charges.

Larry Renee Jefferson, Dalen Lenale Brewer and Diego Flores have been charged with four counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of first-degree assault, second degree-assault, and possession of a weapon on school grounds.

Jefferson faces the felony charge of using a prohibited large-capacity magazine during a crime, the release said. Jefferson and Brewer have status conference hearings scheduled in court on Dec. 15. A status conference hearing is scheduled for Flores on March 7. All three suspects face two crime-of-violence sentence enhancers as part of the charges.

The Hinkley students who were shot are both 17, a male and a female, and an APS Avenues student is a 16-year-old male, according to authorities.

A school security officer returned fire when the shooting started around noon, police said, and applied a tourniquet to one of the wounded students. One of the three was taken by ambulance to a hospital, the other two were “self-transported.” The shooting stemmed from a fight in the school’s parking lot.

Two of the injured teens are Hinkley students, and the third attends APS Avenues, Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson said during an afternoon news conference. None of the injuries is believed to be life-threatening, she said.

Aurora police announced late Friday that a 16-year-old boy was arrested and has been charged with attempted murder. Police did not release the name of the suspect.

Wilson said police are sorting out which of the teens are victims and who may be a suspect.

UPDATE: A 16-year-old male is in custody & charged w/ Attempt Murder. His name will not be released.

Detectives are working diligently to positively identify & arrest the other involved suspects.

Investigation is ongoing. Still asking witnesses to send tips to .

— Aurora Police Dept (@AuroraPD)

None of the injuries is believed to be life-threatening, she said, and police are sorting out which of the teens are victims and who may be a suspect. No arrests have been made.

“These are our kids shooting each other,” Wilson said.

The Hinkley students who were shot are both 17, a male and a female, and the APS Avenues student is a 16-year-old male, police said.

A school security officer returned fire when the shooting started around noon, Wilson said, and applied a tourniquet to one of the wounded students. One of the three was taken by ambulance to a hospital, the other two were “self-transported.”

The shooting — which included multiple people firing weapons — stemmed from a fight in the parking lot, the chief said. Police are investigating whether the incident was related to the drive-by shooting at nearby Aurora Central High School on Monday that left six teens wounded.

All told, nine teens were wounded in shootings outside two Aurora schools this week. Threats involving two more local high schools — Rangeview and Gateway — circulated on social media, Wilson said.

“Everyone in this community should be very angry,” Wilson said, pleading with parents to check their kids’ phones, rooms and cars to make sure they’re not carrying weapons.

Aurora

: 2 have been shot in the parking lot of Hinkley HS, 1250 S. Chambers.

Both transported to the hospital.

Hinkley is on lockdown.

Updates will be here.

— Aurora Police Dept (@AuroraPD)

Although nobody has been arrested, Wilson said, police have located a white pickup that may be related to the shooting. Detectives were questioning two people in relation to the shootings Friday afternoon.

All Hinkley students were released to their parents, she said, and school officials canceled all after-school activities and athletics.

Gael Dominguez, a Hinkley junior, said he saw people running and “at first I thought they were fooling around.” Teachers started yelling at students to run, so Dominguez fled the campus and called his mom to tell her he was OK.

Sherri Ellis rushed to the school Friday to pick up her grandson.

“I can only imagine how these kids feel going to school,” she said. “This is crazy. When is it going to stop?”

Church volunteers outside the school Friday afternoon passed out bottles of water to concerned parents, who gathered behind the yellow crime tape surrounding the campus.

Jeremy Conrad, who attends the nearby Calvary Wellspring Church, said he doesn’t have any children at the school but came out because he was concerned for the community.

“It¶¶Ňőap a sense of sadness for those who are experiencing pain and those who are threatened by violence,” Conrad said.

Dozens of parents rushed to Hinkley HS today to check on their kids after a shooting in the school parking lot.

— kieran nicholson (@kierannicholson)

On Monday six teens were shot in a park across the street from Aurora Central High School. All six victims, who ranged in age from 14 to 18, were students at Aurora Central High School. None of their wounds was considered life-threatening, but two remained hospitalized.

In the wake of that shooting, city and interfaith leaders planned a peace march Friday — but just as they were about to get underway, word of the Hinkley shooting made its way to organizers.

The organizers let the city know that they were postponing the event, Aurora officials tweeted.

John Kellner, the district attorney whose jurisdiction covers parts of Aurora, said in a statement Friday that “our community rightly is demanding an end to this violence, and we will stand with them in using every tool we have to prosecute aggressively anyone connected to these attacks on students.”

Gov. Jared Polis offered “thoughts and prayers” to the victims during a news conference on Colorado’s COVID-19 situation on Friday, and he said the state is working on initiatives to reduce violence in communities.

“We, as a state, need to redouble our efforts to reduce youth violence,” he said.

Aurora has seen a spike in youth violence this year that has drawn attention from city leaders, community members and law enforcement.

After Friday’s shooting, at least 49 teens — ages 13 to 19 — have been shot and injured this year, compared with 33 in 2020, according to Aurora police figures.

Seven teens have been killed in Aurora this year, up from six in 2020 and five the year prior.

Reporters Meg Wingerter and Elise Schmelzer contributed to this report.