ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — A 17-year-old boy who is charged in connection with two separate fatal shootings that happened within days of each other last September was convicted on an attempted homicide charge in Texas in 2022, court documents show.
Dhaevontae Rogers-Broadus has been in custody since October after he turned himself into Aurora Police. Although he was 16 at the time of the alleged crime, he's been charged as an adult with second-degree murder and aggravated robbery in connection with the Sept. 30 fatal shooting. Raphael Velin, 15, was killed in the shooting in a parking lot at Southlands Mall in Aurora.
Last month, prosecutors charged Rogers-Broadus and two others in connection with a deadly carjacking that occurred in Arapahoe County 11 days earlier. About 10 p.m. Sept. 19, Ahmed Zainuldeen was shot and killed in the parking lot of the Ivy Crossing Apartment Complex near South Quebec Street and East Yale Avenue.
Rogers-Broadus, now 17, and Raydon Collins, also 17, are charged as adults with first-degree murder, felony murder, aggravated robbery and other charges. Collins also has a pending attempted homicide case in Denver.
The third suspect's case remains in juvenile court, and due to their age, their name was not released.
According to an arrest affidavit from the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office, Zainuldeen went outside when he heard his car alarm and was knocking on the front window of his vehicle when one of the teens fired a gun from the back seat, killing him. Immediately after the shooting, the teens drove off in Zainuldeen's vehicle, which was later found abandoned in the 3800 block of South Bahama Street in Aurora.
Investigators found a partially consumed bottle of Fanta in the front seat. It was swabbed for DNA, and in January, the sheriff's office was notified of a match. According to the affidavit, the DNA matched Rogers-Broadus, who had previously submitted his DNA related to his arrest and conviction in Texas for an attempted homicide in 2022. No other details about that case are provided in the document.
A co-defendant who was also charged in the shooting at Southlands Mall told investigators that the weapon Rogers-Broadus used in that shooting was given to him by Collins. That same co-defendant said Collins had "boasted" about using the same gun on a man while stealing cars, before trading it to Rogers-Broadus.
According to the affidavit, Rogers-Broadus and Collins are members of a hybrid criminal street gang known as "TOPSKORE" that has been in existence since at least late fall 2021. The document says it began as a "loose affiliation of juvenile criminals" but has grown more "organized and sophisticated" over the years.
Multiple homicides dating back to 2022 have been linked to other members of the gang. They include the killing of a pregnant woman on Nov. 28 of that year. The woman was hit by gunfire after shots were fired between two vehicles near the intersection of Sable Boulevard and Smith Road in Aurora.
TOPSKORE gang members are also responsible for a triple homicide in Denver in April 2022, the affidavit says. In that incident, shots were fired between two vehicles on Peoria Street near Interstate 70, according to Denver Police. Two teens in one of the vehicles were shot and killed. A 37-year-old man in a different vehicle died in a crash that resulted from the shooting.
According to the affidavit, TOPSKORE members are "heavily involved" in stealing vehicles, and it's believed that Collins and Broadus-Rogers were acting together as gang members when they stole Zainuldeen's vehicle.
In February, Collins voluntarily spoke with investigators. During the interview, according to the affidavit, he indicated that he, Rogers-Broadus and the other suspect attended a party at the Ivy Crossing Apartment Complex. He said during the party, Rogers-Broadus needed to get home due to his probation conditions but could not get a ride, the affidavit says.
Collins told investigators they began looking for a car to steal so that Rogers-Broadus could get home. According to the document, Rogers-Broadus had three incoming phone calls that night from the State of Colorado Youth Services Center. Two of them were about an hour before Zainuldeen was killed.
Collins told investigators that the three suspects got into Zainuldeen's car with Rogers-Broadus in the driver's seat and Collins in the front passenger seat. The other suspect was in the back seat in the middle, according to the affidavit.
He said he heard a knock on a car window and then heard a gunshot from the back seat, the document says. He said he yelled at Rogers-Broadus to drive away. He went on to say that the other suspect shot Zainuldeen through the left rear passenger window while Zainuldeen was knocking on the driver's side front window, according to the affidavit.
Investigators noted that Collins' description of what happened matched the way the evidence suggested Zainuldeen was shot.
Rogers-Broadus is due in court for both cases on June 3. Collins is next due in court for an arraignment on June 4.
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