DENVER — A teen accused of shooting and killing a man inside his Lexus SUV in a Green Valley Ranch parking lot was formally charged Tuesday.
Lin Li, 18, was charged with first-degree murder for the shooting death of Daoud Francis, 21, the night of June 14. Li was arrested at a Blackhawk hotel the next day.
Francis’ body was found in the backseat of a Lexus SUV in a parking lot in Green Valley Ranch the morning after the shooting.
According to court documents, Francis owned the Lexus but was riding in the back of the SUV when he and six other men, including the suspect, stopped in the parking lot after leaving a nearby house party that had just been busted up by police.
Witnesses told police that Francis, sitting directly behind the suspect in the parked SUV, called Li “a b—ch” as the men discussed what to do next after leaving the party, according to an affidavit. That prompted the suspect to reply to the victim something to the effect of “I’m not like the rest of these kids out here. I’ll kill you,” the affidavit read.
After the exchange of words, witnesses told police that Li began striking Francis in the face with a semi-automatic handgun when the gun went off, the affidavit read. The bullet struck Francis in the head, according to the documents. Li then pointed the gun at the five other men and told them “he’d shoot them too if they talked about what they’d just witnessed,” authorities wrote in the affidavit.
The five men took off on foot after the shooting. Witnesses told police they believe that the shooting was accidental and that Li was only trying to hit Francis with the gun.
Investigators later traced the suspect’s phone to a hotel in Blackhawk where he was arrested.
Li was also charged with three counts of intimidating a victim or witness and one count of possession of a weapon by a previous offender. His next court appearance is Friday.