EL PASO, Texas — A 19-year-old man has been arrested in the Denver double shooting that left a three-year-old girl critically wounded in December, police announced on Thursday.
Guadalupe Jose Villanueva faces charges of first-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and second-degree attempted murder.
He was taken into custody Sunday in El Paso, Texas, and is awaiting extradition to Colorado, according to Denver police.
Villanueva is accused in the shooting of a three-year-old girl and a man in a parking lot in the 2900 block of South Federal Boulevard on Dec. 28. Tipsters helped police identify Villanueva, and investigators secured a warrant for his arrest.
The victim, a young girl named Isabella, remains in critical condition but is expected to survive her injuries, police said. The adult who was shot was treated and release from the hospital in December. Isabella and her family were picking up a pizza from Little Caesar's when the shooting happened.
Police in December said it appears a man in the parking lot had started taking pictures of a red Subaru Outback parked in a handicapped spot. They say a man came out of a business and started shooting, striking the young girl and the man who was taking photos.
In surveillance video, Isabella's father is seen scrambling out of the van to check on his little girls.
“She had a little hat on, he lifted the hat and saw that she had a wound to her head, “a relative told Denver7.
The young girl was shot in the head just two days before her third birthday.
Denver Metro Crime Stoppers had offered a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest.
Villanueva has an arrest history in Denver, including his arrest last year in the double fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy and 36-year-old man in the 1600 block of South Tennyson Street. However, court records show that Villanueva's case was dismissed shortly after his arrest. More information about the Tennyson shooting was not available Thursday.