DENVER — Two men were each sentenced to two life sentences for a double homicide that occured in April of last year.
Elias Chavez and Tlaloc Chavez, both 23, were charged in the fatal shootings of DeAngelo Tafoya, 22, and David Lara, 59.
Police responded to the shooting at 4:06 p.m. April 1, 2021 in the area of West Alameda Avenue and South Federal Boulevard and found two victims with gunshot wounds. Witnesses reported hearing gunfire and said that the gunfire came from a gold SUV, according to the Denver Police Department's probable cause (PC) statement in the case.
About six minutes after the shooting, DPD officers stopped a gold Honda CRV in the area of West 7th Avenue and North Alcott Street, the PC statement says. Elias Chavez was driving the vehicle, and Tlaloc Chavez was in the back seat, along with a baby in a car seat. There was also a front-seat passenger who was not identified in the PC statement.
A witness who was at the bus stop identified the two suspects as the men who shot the victims, according to the PC statement.
Also, surveillance video from an RTD bus that was at a bus stop in the 300 block of Federal Boulevard showed two men in a gold Honda CRV shooting at the two victims, who were walking toward the vehicle, according to the PC statement.
Elias Chavez was convicted on Sept. 16 on one count of first-degree murder extreme indifference, one count of first-degree murder - after deliberation and one count of attempted first-degree murder. He was sentenced Wednesday to two life sentences for the murder convictions and 48 years for the attempted murder conviction.
Tlaloc Chavez was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder-extreme indifference and one count of attempted murder - extreme indifference on Sept. 19. He was sentenced on Wednesday to two life terms for the murder convictions and 48 years for the attempted murder conviction.
This story relies on previous reporting from Jennifer Campbell-Hicks.
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