LAKEWOOD, Colo. — A man who attacked his elderly mother before going after a man in a wheelchair in February pleaded guilty to the crimes last week.
On Thursday, James Andrew Navarro, 37, pleaded guilty in Jefferson County District Court to attempted second-degree murder after he assaulted his elderly mother earlier this year.
In February, Lakewood police responded to an assault call on the 1300 block of Zephyr Street in Lakewood. When they arrived at the scene, they found a 70-year-old woman with injuries on her face. She told authorities that her son, Navarro, had attacked her. He also lived at the house.
Before the attack, Navarro had threatened and harassed his mother, and out of fear, she left the house. But he followed her out to the street, grabbed her and threw her on the ground, repeated punching her face.
A man came to the woman’s assistance and let her 911 on his phone.
The woman told authorities she was strangled and had a fractured orbital bone, missing tooth and fractured elbow from the attack.
Shortly after this attack, a community member reported that they had spotted a man threatening, punching and harassing a man in a wheelchair at the Wadsworth and Colfax bus stop. The person interrupted the attack and drove to the nearby Teller Street substation of Lakewood Police Department.
Authorities found Navarro a few blocks away and arrested him. He was identified as the attacker in the second incident as well.
Navarro’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 10. He faces prison time up to 22 years.