DENVER – The suspect in a deadly shooting at Elyria Park was wanted for several violent crimes in El Paso County, including assault with a deadly weapon, according to an affidavit in the case unsealed Friday.
Alejandro Blanco, 32, is accused of shooting and killing 41-year-old Sergio Ordonez Valencia the night of July 20 as the victim and his friends were just hanging out at the park late at night.
While a motive in the case has not been clearly established, friends of the victim told Denver police Blanco pulled up to where all four of them were seated at the park the night of July 20 before telling the group, “I’m going to kill all of you!” in Spanish. They said he fired two shots, with at least one of those bullets striking Valencia in the neck, before he fled the scene of the crime, the affidavit states.
Valencia – who was found by police lying on his back in the sand of the park’s volleyball court – was taken to Denver Health Medical Center where he was pronounced deceased at 11:46 p.m. At the scene, police recovered two .22 caliber fired cartridge casings.
During the investigation, surveillance video caught the vehicle Blanco was suspected of driving going towards Commerce City following the homicide.
Eight days later, on July 28, an Adams County Sheriff’s Office deputy alerted police they had spotted the suspect vehicle parked in front of a room at the Valli-Hi Motel, located at 7320 Pecos St. in Adams County.
About an hour later, police arrived at the hotel and requested surveillance video of the site, which showed a man and a woman arriving at the hotel at around 11 p.m. a day prior.
Police were able to identify the suspect as Blanco because he handed jail paperwork as proof of identity, according to the affidavit. A search for his name revealed Blanco was wanted on several warrants out of El Paso County, one of which is a felony for auto theft and eluding, documents how.
Blanco was arrested soon thereafter, police said.
During a search of his hotel room, police found a loaded .22 caliber handgun in the toilet tank as well as a methamphetamine pipe. Two live .22 caliber bullets were also found under the driver’s seat of his vehicle, as well as 1 fired .22 caliber cartridge casing, which police believe he fired during a road rage incident on July 23 – less than three days following Valencia’s homicide.
A baggie of suspected methamphetamine which police later discovered was also hidden in the toilet tank but was missed during evidence collection was never found, police said, adding they were not sure whether it had been disposed of or removed before between the first and second searches of the room.
Blanco, a Cuban national, previously lived less than half-a-mile from the homicide scene and worked within a few blocks of the crime scene, the affidavit states.
He faces charges of first-degree murder as well as three counts of criminal attempt to commit first-degree murder with extreme indifference. Both are classified as felonies.
Blanco remains in custody on the three warrants, which have a combined total bond of $3,200, according to police.