AURORA, Colo. — Three people have been charged with several counts of attempted murder after multiple shootings in July that endangered a handful of people, including an Aurora police officer.
Around 11:45 p.m. on July 28, officers with the Aurora Police Department responded to a report of a shooting around S. Havana Street and E. Idaho Place, the department said. One of the officers, who was in a marked car, reported hearing gunshots as he drove south on S. Havana Street, adding that he believed his car had been hit by a bullet.
About 10 minutes after this, officers learned that a man with a gunshot wound had transported himself to a local hospital. In a later interview with police, the man said he had been on the sidewalk near the 1500 block of S. Havana Street when he heard the gunshots and was hit, police said.
At the time of the shooting, police did not have any information about the suspect or suspects, but recovered shell casings from the scene.
During the subsequent investigation, the Aurora Police Department Crime Gun Intelligence Unit learned a "rolling gunfight" had happened on S. Havana Street, and involved people in a black Land Rover SUV and a white Ford F150 pickup, police said. Aurora police determined that this was connected with the shooting of the Aurora officer's car and the pedestrian who had been hospitalized.
Around this same time, Aurora police learned about four other victims who had been in the crossfire, the department said. Police were able to link the July 28 shootings to one that had happened earlier that day in Aurora and another that happened a few hours later in Denver.
Aurora police identified the driver and passengers in the Land Rover. It is not clear who the driver was, but the suspects were identified as Jose Daniel Gimenez-Chacin, 23, Alonzo Lara, 29, and Yilbert Fransua Maldonado-Moncada, 29.
Gimenez-Chacin and Lara were both arrested in October, police said.
Maldonado-Moncada was in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at the time, Aurora police said. He appeared in court last week to hear the charges filed against him in connection with the July 28 shooting.
All three suspects have been charged with six counts of attempted first-degree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree assault and one count of first-degree assault.
All remain in custody — Gimenez-Chacin on a $750,000 bond, Lara on a $500,000 bond, and Maldonado-Moncada on a $250,000 bond.
Anybody with information is asked to contact the Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. Tipsters can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward up to $2,000.
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