GREELEY, Colo. — A 16-year-old boy is being charged as an adult in connection with the fatal shooting of his 15-year-old ex-girlfriend, prosecutors in Weld County said on Tuesday.
Jovanni Sirio-Cardona, 16, faces murder and other charges in the death of 15-year-old Lily Silva-Lopez.
According to an arrest affidavit, a neighbor called 911 on June 16 after Silva-Lopez's 13-year-old brother told her that his sister had been shot. The brother told the neighbor that the victim's ex-boyfriend, Sirio-Cardona, had broken into the home, shot the victim and run away.
The affidavit says Sirio-Cardona forced entry into the victim's bedroom window, and as he was entering, she told her brother to run.
Her brother went to his bedroom and tried to call 911, but the call did not connect. About the same time, Sirio-Cardona came in through the window, found Silva-Lopez in the hallway outside her room and shot her several times, according to the affidavit.
When Sirio-Cardona saw the victim's brother, Sirio-Cardona demanded he give the phone to him so he would not be able to call 911, according to the affidavit. He left the scene with the brother's phone in his possession.
The brother told police that Sirio-Cardona had been visiting by walking outside the home and had been seen on camera walking around the home on Tuesday or Wednesday of the same week.
When police arrived at Sirio-Cardona's home after the shooting, his grandmother asked why they were there. Sirio-Cardona "replied by saying he did what he had to do and he shot someone," according to the affidavit.
Silva-Lopez's mother told police that Silva-Lopez and Sirio-Cardona had dated for about six months. About four weeks before the shooting, the victim's mom said, the victim tried ending her relationship with him, and the suspect "responded by putting the barrel of a gun in Silva-Lopez's mouth," according to the affidavit. The victim's mom told police he then "told SIlva-Lopez she wasn't going to break up with him and she needed to tell him she loved him," according to the affidavit. The victim's mom told police the victim had given this information to her cousin, who then gave it to her.
On June 10, an officer responded to Silva-Lopez's home on a report that the suspect had punched Silva-Lopez in the face and hurt her arm, the affidavit says.
Sirio-Cardona is charged with:
- First-degree murder - after deliberation
- Second-degree murder
- First-degree burglary
- Aggravated robbery
- Possession of a handgun by a juvenile
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