DENVER — A suspect pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder in the 2022 fatal shooting of a 16-year-old at the Downtown Denver Skatepark, according to the district attorney's office.
Juan Herrera-Lozano died April 23, 2022, at the skatepark at 2205 19th St. in Lower Downtown. Officers who responded found him lying in the street, suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
> The video above aired in April 2022: 16-year-old Juan Herrera-Lozano shot and killed at Denver skate park
Owen Ruiz, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty on Friday. He originally faced several charges including first-degree murder and possession of a weapon by a previous offender.
Ruiz is scheduled to be sentenced on April 1.
In surveillance video of the skatepark shooting released by Denver Police in 2022, Herrera-Lozano can be seen crossing the street and speaking with people inside a dark-colored sedan. He begins running from the vehicle. Someone in the car then fires a gun, hitting and killing him.
Denver Police found six fired cartridges in the street, according to the arrest affidavit.
Speaking through a translator days after the shooting, Herrera-Lozano's father, Domingo Herrera, said, "He thought it was his friends, so that's why he approached the car, and when he realized it wasn't his friends he walked away, and that's when it happened."
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