No charges after man kills teens raiding backyard marijuana garden, Colorado DA says
Authorities have determined that a Colorado homeowner who shot and killed teenagers trespassing in his backyard was acting in self defense and will not be charged in the shooting.
It happened on a Sunday afternoon, on Oct. 2, along Pearl Street in Northglenn, which is about 10 miles north of downtown Denver. Investigating authorities said at the time they would review the evidence “for legal decisions related to arrest and charging.”
That day, the people living in the home saw a stranger cutting the leaves and branches of their backyard marijuana plant with a machete, according to an Oct. 20 news release from the District Attorney’s Office.
A man inside grabbed a .45 caliber handgun, went outside and said “Really? Get out of here,” the release said.
The teen ran into a shed-like garage that was attached to the home. The resident told Northglenn Police that gunshots started coming from inside the shed, which ballistic evidence later verified, authorities said.
The resident fired back at them, the release said. Both teens were inside the shed at this point, and both of them got shot, investigators said.
One of them died there, and the other died at a local hospital, the district attorney’s office said. The resident was not injured in the shooting.
A Northglenn Police report from the incident says the homeowner was in the backyard when officers arrived, and told them to use caution because the teens in the shed “had guns,” the report says. Officers said he immediately put his hands up when officers entered the backyard through the home, and said he had unloaded his handgun and placed it “in plain view on the cement patio in the backyard.”
He told officers he “had to shoot” the teenagers because “they shot at him,” the report says.
Northglenn Police recovered a .40 caliber handgun and three spent .40 caliber shell casings near the bodies in the shed, the release said. Authorities also found a “large machete-style knife” right outside the entrance to the shed.
Ballistic evidence showed that shots were fired from inside the shed toward the resident, who was outside the shed, the release said.
Later on, authorities determined that the 15 and 16-year-old boys were suspected of trespassing at another property nearby earlier in the day. Witnesses and evidence from that scene suggested they broke into the nearby home by throwing something through a window and then allegedly stole an airsoft gun. Authorities recovered the airsoft gun inside a bag found near where they were shot, the release said.
“The outcome of this incident is tragic,” District Attorney Brian Mason and Northglenn Police Chief Jim May wrote in the release. “Two teenagers are dead, and their loss is heartbreaking. The District Attorney’s Office and the Northglenn Police Department must follow the law and the evidence, however, and the evidence clearly shows that the resident of the home acted in self-defense when he returned fire after being fired upon multiple times. Therefore, the resident will not be arrested or charged in this incident.”
This story was originally published October 20, 2022 at 1:02 PM with the headline "No charges after man kills teens raiding backyard marijuana garden, Colorado DA says."
