AURORA, Colo — A 15-year-old arrested after a shooting that injured two boys was carrying a handgun that had been converted to a fully automatic weapon, according to Aurora Police.
It’s not clear whether that gun was used in the shooting Wednesday afternoon that sent a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old to a hospital with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening.
The 15-year-old was being held on suspicion of possession of a dangerous or illegal weapon, possession of a weapon by a juvenile, and obstructing a peace officer. A 14-year-old taken into custody at the scene had warrants for second- and third-degree assault and criminal mischief.
Investigators continued to work Thursday to determine how, or if, the two were involved in the shooting itself.
The shooting occurred shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday at an apartment complex in the 12400 block of East Ford Avenue.
The number of shootings involving juveniles is up around the country. Aurora Police data shows that city is no exception when it comes to shootings where the perpetrator is a juvenile:
- 2020 – 19 shootings, no deaths;
- 2021 – 43 shootings, 3 deaths;
- 2022 – 46 shootings, 3 deaths;
- 2023 – 53 shootings, 5 deaths.
That was no surprise to Jason McBride, who works on youth violence issues at the Struggle of Love Foundation.
“Fourteen, 15 years ago, the average age of the person that was, you know, being shot or doing the shooting was 18, 19, 20 years old,” McBride said. “Now that had dipped, to where we're seeing 12- and 13-year-olds, on average, be the perpetrators – or, you know, be the ones that are getting killed out here on these streets.”
McBride said in recent years he is asked the same question as summer approaches: Will youth gun violence go up again this year?
“I’ve had the same answer: It’s going to be worse than the summer previous, which was the worst summer we’ve ever had,” he said.
It’s a trend happening nationally.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, people 24 or younger accounted for more than 20% of the 45,222 gun deaths in 2020, the last year for which full statistics are available.
Firearms deaths for people ages 12 to 17 declined steadily for decades before they began to increase in 2019.
On Thursday, Denver Police said that a 13-year-old boy had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a shooting that occurred in January.
McBride said he attributes the increase to a lot of factors: “a lack of parenting in the home,” not enough summer job opportunities for teenagers, holes in the system that provides mental health treatment to kids, easy access to guns and drugs, and even the residual effects of the COVID pandemic.
McBride acknowledged that he sometimes feels like throwing up his hands in frustration.
“I’ve quit in my head so many times,” he said. “I’ve lost so many kids.”
Then he reminds himself that he and others working to curb youth violence also have successes.
“We're out here doing the best that we can with the abundance of kids out here that are getting negative influence, finding weapons that they shouldn't have, doing drugs, and don't have the mental health that they need,” McBride said. “It's a perfect recipe for violence.
“And that's exactly what we've been feasting off for the last six or seven years.”
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