DENVER – An Arapahoe County jury on Thursday convicted a man on seven counts after he shot at a Jeep that drove into a crowd of protesters on Interstate 225 in Aurora during protests over the death of Elijah McClain and injured two people.
Samuel Alvin Young, 24, was convicted on two counts of second-degree assault, four counts of attempted manslaughter and one count of illegal discharge of a firearm with respect to the July 2020 incident. The second-degree assault counts were downgraded from first-degree assault.
All seven counts are felonies to varying degrees, to which Young had previously pleaded not guilty. He was originally charged with eight counts, but some of those original charges were modified and one count of first-degree assault was dismissed.
According to an affidavit, after a Jeep drove into the crowd of protesters on I-225, Young fired at the vehicle and hit two bystanders in late July 2020. No one inside the Jeep was injured.
The Jeep had drove into the crowd near E. Alameda Avenue around 7 p.m. on July 25, 2020, after which police said two people were shot – one in the leg and another near their temple.
A person who witnessed the shooting said Young was “in a state of shock” afterward. After Aurora police asked for information on who the suspect in the shooting was, Young called police and identified himself as the person of interest in the shooting, saying he would talk with investigators if he had legal representation.
He was arrested July 27 that year. According to The Denver Post, during the trial, Young’s public defenders argued Young had acted in the defense of others because the driver of the Jeep was endangering people. The driver of the Jeep was not charged.
Young is not entitled to bail because he was convicted of a felony involving a firearm, the judge said Thursday. A sentencing hearing for Young was set for the afternoon of May 17. He faces up to 23 years in prison if the judge were to sentence him to the maximum possible sentence.