DENVER — The man accused of shooting and killing the owner of a Wheat Ridge convenience store Thursday night told investigators he didn’t mean for the gun to go off, and he was only trying to intimidate the owner over a $5 transaction, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Denver7 Tuesday.
“Life happened,” is what the 26-year-old suspect, Shawnathan Deangelo Chance, allegedly told investigators when questioned about the incident after his arrest in Indiana Friday, the affidavit said.
The owner of a Valero gas station and convenience store along the 12300 block of W. 44th Avenue was found shot to death around 8 p.m. Thursday after customers found the store empty and called 911.
Responding Wheat Ridge police officers found the body of 53-year-old Veshraj Lamichhane in the store’s backroom, according to the documents.
Officers viewing security camera footage wrote in the affidavit that Chance entered the store and purchased an item about five minutes before returning and allegedly attacking Lamichhane.
Video shows the suspect lead the victim at gunpoint to the back of the store where his body was found, according to the affidavit.
Chance is then seen grabbing the victim’s wallet and keys and taking off in Lamichhane’s vehicle, a gray 2015 Nissan Pathfinder, the documents read.
The suspect was arrested in Posey County, Indiana Friday after a short pursuit along Interstate 64. He was booked into the Posey County Jail.
State police arrested Chance on probable cause for homicide, resisting law enforcement, reckless driving and possession of a stolen vehicle after he crashed the SUV during the pursuit, the affidavit read.
According to the documents, the suspect — who resides in Dunn, North Carolina — told Indiana investigators during questioning that when he was in Colorado, “he went to a gas station, paid with a $5 bill and the owner ripped him off.”
Chance claims he returned to the Wheat Ridge gas station armed with a gun two days later to try to intimidate the victim to return his money, the affidavit read. He told them he did not intend for the gun to go off.
Lamichhane was a father of four and the sole provider for his family, according to the Non-Resident Nepali Association on Friday. A GoFundMe was started to help support his family.
