A star high school rugby player who was gunned down during a late-night $25 sale of vape juice identified his alleged killer before dying in surgery, authorities said.
Lloyd Chavez IV, 18, was fatally shot during a botched robbery attempt in his front yard, according to court documents. Four teenagers have been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated robbery in connection with the incident, according to arrest warrant affidavits filed by the Arapahoe County Sheriff's investigators.
All four have been charged as adults. They are being held without bail at a juvenile detention center. They are identified as Demarea Mitchell, 16, Juliana Serrano, 17, Dominic Stager, 17, and Kenneth Gallegos, 17.
Serrano, a cheerleader at Cherokee Trail High School, had arranged to buy vaping products from Chavez on Snapchat, authorities said. She and three boys went to his house in Centennial, a quiet suburban neighborhood, on May 8. Money was exchanged, and a fight erupted, the teenage girl told investigators. Chavez was shot in the chest and stumbled through the front door of his home, the documents said.
At a nearby hospital, Chavez was asked who shot him. "Kenny," he told investigators as he was wheeled into surgery, the affidavits said. He died on the operating table.
Serrano, speaking to investigators, denied that Kenneth Gallegos shot Chavez, the documents said. She acknowledged the presence of a gun, but said it had been handled by Mitchell and Stager, according to the court records. The group intended to rob Chavez of vaping products and the gun was going to be used to "scare" him, Serrano said, according to the documents.
At some point during the fight that ensued, the gun went off, according to authorities.
Chavez was called a "spectacular" all-state rugby player by his coach, the Denver Post reported. Chavez would have graduated high school in two weeks.
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