Defendant in Flagstaff Road shooting charged with 10 counts of attempted murder
May 19—One of the two people arrested in connection with the shooting of two teens on Flagstaff Road last weekend has been charged with 10 counts of attempted first-degree murder.
Jafet Hernandez-Gonzalez, 21, was formally charged Friday with five counts of attempted first-degree murder after deliberation, five counts of attempted murder — extreme indifference, first-degree assault and second-degree assault.
He was also charged with 11 sentence enhancers.
Hernandez-Gonzalez had his bond set at $200,000 by Boulder County Judge David Archuleta at a hearing Friday. He remains in custody and is now set for a preliminary hearing on June 8.
Hernandez-Gonzalez's defense attorney Kathryn Herold asked for a $10,000 bond with a cash option, noting Hernandez-Gonzalez has no prior criminal history and had strong family support and ties to Colorado.
His family members also spoke at the hearing and said Hernandez-Gonzalez was "not a bad person."
But Boulder Deputy District Attorney Ryan Day argued that the bond be kept at the original amount of $500,000 set by the judge who signed the original arrest warrant. Day noted that prosecutors had added eight attempted murder charges since Hernandez-Gonzalez's arrest.
"If anything, the bond was probably set too low on the warrant with the way charging ended up," Day said.
Archuleta opted to lower the bond but not as low as defense attorneys requested, saying the amount balanced Hernandez-Gonzalez's lack of criminal history with the seriousness of the charges.
A 17-year-old codefendant in the case, who is not being named because he is a juvenile, was also arrested in the case.
The shooting occurred in the area of the 2300 block of Flagstaff Road at 4:30 a.m. May 13.
According to an arrest affidavit, one of the shooting victims, identified in charging documents as Andrew Tapia, 18, was driving a Cadillac with a group of people when he crashed into a guardrail on Flagstaff Road.
One of the passengers called her boyfriend to come pick her up, and he arrived on scene with his friend, Hernandez-Gonzalez, and Tapia also tried to get in.
According to the affidavit, when Tapia was told he could not go with the woman and Hernandez-Gomez, he reportedly became angry, hit the hood of Hernandez-Gonzalez's vehicle and said he had a gun.
Witnesses said Hernandez-Gonzalez threatened to come back and shoot Tapia.
Tapia was eventually able to get his family members to come pick him and the other passengers up, and they all waited in a trailhead parking lot for more vehicles.
While they were waiting, a vehicle pulled up and someone inside fired shots, hitting Tapia and a 17-year-old on scene.
The victims' friends tried to get the teens to a hospital in their Dodge Charger before they were pulled over in the parking lot of a King Soopers in Boulder.
The 17-year-old sustained a serious injury to his leg that required surgery. Tapia had a minor injury to his rear and was treated and released.
Two guns were found in the Charger that had picked up the injured teens, including one that reportedly belonged to Tapia.
According to the affidavit, multiple witnesses said Hernandez-Gonzalez admitted to the shooting, with one witness saying Hernandez-Gonzalez claimed Tapia displayed a weapon.
Hernandez-Gonzalez's father's vehicle was registered at a license plate reader at Baseline Road and 17th Street shortly before 4 a.m. the day of the shooting.
Police also collected phones from multiple witnesses, including one used to try to warn the teens that Hernandez-Gonzalez was coming to shoot them.
Hernandez-Gonzalez and the juvenile suspect were arrested after a search was conducted at a residence in unincorporated Adams County, near the intersection of U.S. 36 and North Pecos Street.
Detectives also impounded multiple vehicles involved in the incident and are continuing to interview witnesses.
Gonzalez-Hernandez's booking photo was not yet available.
