DENVER — One of the 16-year-old boys arrested in connection with the Sept. 7 shooting of a boy and a young man outside the Carla Madison Recreation Center has been charged as an adult with attempted murder and other counts.
Jalil Mitchell, 16, of Aurora, faces two counts of attempted murder after deliberation; two counts of attempted murder – extreme indifference; two counts of first-degree assault causing serious bodily injury with a deadly weapon; two counts of first-degree assault – extreme indifference; one count of disorderly conduct – discharge of a firearm; and one count of possessing a handgun as a juvenile, the Denver District Attorney’s Office said.
The district attorney’s office said the other 16-year-old who was arrested has not been charged as of Thursday morning.
The shooting injured a 19-year-old man, the district attorney’s office said, and 14-year-old RJ Harding, an East High School student. Previously, police and prosecutors said the 19-year-old man was 20 years old.
According to an affidavit for Mitchell’s arrest, the shooting happened after three other altercations that occurred in the area over about an hour.
At least one of the altercations stemmed from a Facebook argument between two people after one of their friends died in a crash during a police chase. One of the people had been “disrespecting” the person who died, the affidavit said.
Mitchell and two others were seen on surveillance video entering the rec center by police, which was used when police asked witnesses to identify the suspected shooter.
One of the victims told police he was near the 7-Eleven across the street from the rec center when he heard someone yell, “Hey,” from in front of the rec center. He turned to see who yelled and was immediately shot.
One witness said he saw a male wearing a green sweatshirt fire a gun several times, which the witness said was passed to him. Witnesses would later identify the male in the green sweatshirt as Mitchell.
An employee at East High School also told officers that the boy in the green sweatshirt was Mitchell, saying that Mitchell had previously been involved in fights with students at East High.
A witness who was shown a photo lineup that included Mitchell said he believed the suspected shooter was either Mitchell or another man in the lineup.
Nearly all of the names of the victims, witnesses, and others involved in the shooting and fights that took place beforehand are redacted in the affidavit, so some of exactly what transpired is not clear.
But the officer who wrote the affidavit said that between the surveillance video, HALO camera video, other surveillance stills, and witness statements and identification, there was enough evidence to support charging Mitchell.
The affidavit says one of the victims was shot in the left cheek. Harding’s family previously told Denver7 he had been shot in the face and was still hospitalized as of last week.
The other man had up to five gunshot wounds to his left arm, left leg, and abdomen, according to the affidavit. He was previously released from the hospital.
Officers found nine 9mm casings and a black baseball cap Mitchell was seeing wearing on surveillance video at the scene of the shooting.
Denver7 spoke with a 15-year-old Jalil Mitchell from Aurora last year after three students were injured in a shooting in the parking lot of Hinkley High School. He described trying to stay out of trouble with boxing and mixed-martial arts, and a summer camp in Estes Park.
“If you have more fun stuff like that, we wouldn’t really be in the places we are right now,” he said.
