JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — A man who fired a weapon randomly at another vehicle in Jefferson County last year pleaded guilty Monday and was immediately sentenced.
Paul Behme was arrested on June 13 of last year in connection with the shooting that occurred on May 23, 2023, in the area of West 32nd Avenue and Eldridge Street in the Applewood neighborhood in Jefferson County.
On Monday, he pleaded guilty to a single count of attempted murder and was sentenced to 24 years in the Department of Corrections. As a result of the plea, 10 other charges were dismissed.
According to the sheriff's office, two people were inside a vehicle when someone shot it multiple times in May 2023. The driver was injured by flying shards of glass after a bullet pierced the windshield. He was taken to the hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries. The passenger was not injured, according to the sheriff's office.
Deputies said the victims' vehicle was hit seven times by rounds from a .223 rifle. They said the shooting "appeared to be random and entirely unprovoked."
Deputies identified the suspect's car as a black Audi sedan. Behme was later identified as the driver and arrested at a Wheat Ridge hotel.
After his arrest, Behme agreed to talk with investigators about the incident. An arrest affidavit says that he told police he was having problems with street gang members, and was in the area of Ward Road in Arvada when someone in a truck started shooting at him. He believed the person recognized his passenger.
He said he turned down a side road while being chased by the truck driver. When he got to an area where he thought he could turn around and shoot back -- the roundabout at West 32nd Avenue and Eldridge Street -- he told his passenger to get a gun from the back of the car. Behme told police he then fired about six times, aiming at the radiator of the vehicle, trying to disable it.
The passenger then "yelled that he was not shooting at the right vehicle," the affidavit says, so Behme stopped shooting and sped away.
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