AURORA, Colo. — The man accused of fatally shooting one teen and injuring a second teen after they tried to steal his vehicle said they shot at him first, but police found no other weapons or evidence at the scene to back up that claim, an arrest affidavit says.
Orest Schur, 27, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of:
- First-degree murder
- Attempted first-degree murder
The incident began in the 19400 block of East 59th Place in Aurora when a car alarm woke up Schur and his family.
His wife made the first 911 call at 11:19 p.m. She said they were woken up by a car alarm going off and saw two people dressed in black attempting to break into a Hyundai Elantra, according to Aurora Police. She went on to say that her husband had gone outside to look around, the affidavit says.
She reported that she heard a car driving very fast and then heard three gunshots that she believed came from one street over. The dispatcher advised her to call her husband and tell him to come inside, the affidavit says.
About four minutes later, someone else called 911. That caller refused to give their name but was later identified as Schur, according to the affidavit.
He reported that "he had been shot at while he was chasing some car thieves," the affidavit says.
Schur reported he had been shot at in the area of East 58th Drive and Flanders Street. He then stated he was not hurt and said he had "chased them down" and they crashed and he "had shot back at them," according to the affidavit.
When officers arrived, they located a Kia Rio crashed into a backyard fence on East 58th Circle. The vehicle had a bullet hole in the trunk, and the rear windshield was shattered, the affidavit says. It appeared a bullet had traveled through the rear of the front driver's seat.
No one was inside, but there was damage to the steering column, which police said indicated the vehicle was likely stolen but unreported. It was registered to a man in Lochbuie.
Just after midnight, police found 14-year-old Xavier Daniel Kirk lying in a yard with a gunshot wound to his back and head. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital where he died.
The other victim, a 13-year-old boy, ran to a nearby relative's house and was taken to a hospital. He was shot in the back but is expected to survive.
Officers eventually talked to Schur at his home and found five spent shell casings on his vehicle. He told police he went outside to confront the suspects but they drove off. He said got in his car to follow them in effort to get a better description of them or their vehicle, the affidavit says.
He told police that the suspects were driving fast and he "heard gunshots but did not see a muzzle flash," the document says. Schur said he "returned fire" by shooting out his driver's side window.
Investigators searched the area for other weapons but did not find any in the area or inside the vehicle driven by the teens. They also searched the teens' homes and found no weapons.
According to the affidavit, there was also no evidence that Schur's Elantra had been struck by gunfire. All of the shell casings found by police appeared to be associated with the 9mm handgun fired by Schur, according to the document.
Schur is next due in court on July 13.
On Friday, the U.S. Space Force confirmed that Schur is a technical sergeant assigned to Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora. His wife indicated that he has had weapons training and had previously served two tours in Afghanistan, according to the affidavit.
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