AURORA, Colo. — A teen accused of attempted murder after a shootout with Aurora police officers at a shopping center last month is being charged as an adult, the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office said.
Luis Rivas-Newcomb, 16, is charged with two counts of attempted murder and five counts of attempted murder of a peace officer, according to court documents. The shootout happened Nov. 30 at a shopping center near East 6th Avenue and Peoria Street in Aurora.
According to an arrest affidavit released Monday, police also found evidence that Rivas-Newcomb was near the scene of a homicide Nov. 28 in the area of Sable Boulevard and Smith Road.
The affidavit discusses only the Nov. 30 shooting. Police did say both Rivas-Newcomb and another 15-year-old suspect arrested in the Nov. 30 shooting are persons of interest in the homicide, but no charges have been filed.
Police said surveillance video of the Nov. 28 shooting showed people in a white Kia Optima chasing and shooting at another car. An innocent bystander, a pregnant woman, was hit by a bullet and killed, police said.
The Nov. 30 incident started when Aurora officers tried to contact the people inside a white Kia Optima that had been reported stolen. The people in the Kia, unprovoked, began firing rounds at two officers who were in an unmarked police car, and those officers returned fire, police said.
More officers responded, and eventually, five officers in three different vehicles engaged in a shootout with the suspects, Police Chief Dan Oates said.
The suspects tried to drive away, and an officer in a fourth police vehicle tried to stop them with their vehicle. The suspects fired shots again at the officers, police said.
One officer was taken to a hospital for treatment of possible injuries to the eye and hand, and has been released, Oates said.
According to the arrest affidavit, four occupied police cars were hit by bullets fired by people in the Kia. Three of the cars had two officers in them, and the fourth car had one officer inside, police said, meaning a total of seven officers were fired upon.
Two guns were recovered from the Kia, Oates said. The affidavit says police who investigated the scene found 18 shell casings that did not come from the officers who fired shots. Fifteen of them were .40 caliber casings, and three were 9mm casings, the affidavit says. According to the affidavit, both people inside the Kia fired shots at the police cars.
Police said around 10 p.m. that night, they arrested Rivas-Newcomb in an open field near Central High School. He initially told police he had been robbed and jumped at Nome Park, the affidavit says. He was initially arrested on outstanding warrants, but was later charged in connection with the shooting.
Rivas-Newcomb's mom had reported him as a runaway the day before, the affidavit says.
A 15-year-old suspect was also arrested in connection with the shooting. As of now, that person is being charged as a juvenile.
In total, six Aurora Police officers were placed on administrative leave per department policy: Five for firing their weapons, and one for hitting the suspect vehicle with their vehicle.
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