Latest news with #ArapahoeCountySheriff'sOffice
CBS News
30-04-2025
- CBS News
Aurora teen convicted in fatal shootings of refugee, local teen sentenced to decades in prison
An Aurora teen convicted in two fatal shootings that claimed the life of an Iraqi refugee and a teenager at Southlands Mall will serve three decades in prison. Dhaevontae Rogers-Broadus, 18, pleaded guilty to the two separate shootings, which took place in 2023. On Sep. 19, Rogers-Broadus and two other teens attempted to steal a vehicle at an apartment complex in the 7400 block of E. Harvard Avenue. Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office When Ahmed Zainuldeen heard his car alarm going off, he went outside to discover three people attempting to break into his sedan. They shot and killed Zainuldeen when he confronted them. Authorities said Zainuldeen and his family fled Egypt from their home country of Iraq and settled in Denver just nine months before his death. Ahmed Zainuldeen Zainuldeen family Although prosecutors said they didn't believe Rogers-Broadus was the shooter, the gun used in the shooting belonged to him. He was on probation when Zainuldeen was murdered. Eleven days later, Rogers-Broadus was involved in a shooting outside the Southlands Mall. Authorities said 15-year-old Raphael Velin was shot multiple times in the mall parking lot in an aggravated robbery. Rogers-Broadus and four other suspects were arrested and charged for their roles in Velin's death, although investigators were unable to determine who fired the fatal gunshot. Southlands Mall CBS Rogers-Broadus pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in both cases. On April 30, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for Zainuldeen's murder and 30 years for the murder of Velin. Both sentences will be served concurrently.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Yahoo
18-year-old pleads guilty in deadly 2023 carjacking, killing of 15-year-old at mall
DENVER (KDVR) — An 18-year-old has pleaded guilty in two unrelated homicide cases from 2023 that left an Iraqi immigrant and a 15-year-old dead. According to court records, Dhaevontae Rogers-Broadus, 18, pleaded guilty in two homicide cases from September 2023. He is scheduled to be sentenced in both cases on April 21 in Arapahoe County. Teen arrested in shooting involving 3 children, transaction meetup The first case stems from Sept. 19, 2023, when 23-year-old Ahmed Zainuldeen was shot and killed at an Arapahoe County apartment complex. Rogers-Broadus, then 17, and Raydon Collins, then 18, were arrested and charged as adults. A third suspect was tried as a juvenile. Rogers-Broadus had several charges dismissed by the court or dismissed by his plea in his case involving the death of Zainuldeen, including two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder. He pleaded guilty to one charge of second-degree murder and pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated robbery – confederate menacing with a weapon and sentence-enhancement charges of violent crime causing death and violent crime using a weapon. Zainuldeen, an Iraqi immigrant in the U.S. since 2022, was at an apartment complex at East Harvard Avenue and Quebec Street at about 10 p.m. that Tuesday when four people approached his 2012 silver Hyundai Sonata, the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office said at the time. According to Zainuldeen's brother, he saw his car being stolen and ran to stop them. That's when Zainuldeen was shot and killed, and then the suspects allegedly took off in his car, according to police. South Metro Fire Rescue contain brush fire Anna Hanel, a caseworker for the African Community Center, told FOX31 in 2023 that she had known the Zainuldeen family for some time. The family had spent years living in Egypt, jumping through bureaucratic hoops in search of reaching America, having left Iraq because of the violence. 'These are refugees who came here to seek freedom from violence and persecution,' Hanel said at the time. According to court records, Rogers-Broadus pleaded not guilty in the shooting death of 15-year-old Raphael Velin on Jan. 6 of this year. On April 11, the court accepted the plea agreement and scheduled the 18-year-old for sentencing. Under the plea agreement, Rogers-Broadus pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and prosecutors dropped a count of first-degree murder, another count of second-degree murder, three counts of aggravated robbery – menacing victim with a deadly weapon, two counts of aggravated robbery – confederate menacing with a weapon and one count of failing to report an accident to police. Police said that the encounter had been pre-planned by Velin and the suspects. Witnesses told police they saw four or five male suspects leaving the scene in a black sedan. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Yahoo
Police: Suspects wanted for robbing ATM technician in Centennial
DENVER (KDVR) — The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office said an ATM technician was robbed while servicing a machine in Centennial. The sheriff's office posted on X and said the robbery occurred on April 3 at around 3:30 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Bank located at 18515 E. Smoky Hill Road. Motorcyclist dies after crash in Fort Collins According to the sheriff's office, an ATM technician at the bank was reportedly robbed while servicing the machine by three men in ski masks. During the robbery, deputies said some money spilled out, but it was immediately recovered. Investigators said the men fled the scene in a 2023 gray Nissan Rogue. Aside from the ski masks, the sheriff's office said the suspects were also wearing gloves. Now, deputies and the FBI Denver Safe Streets Task Force are asking for the public's help in identifying and locating the suspects. Anyone with information is asked to call the Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867 or submit a tip on the FBI's website. Tipsters can remain anonymous and be eligible for a cash reward. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
06-04-2025
- CBS News
From Colorado storage unit, Arizona man practiced placing bombs in churches
A Phoenix man who traveled across the western U.S. to sneak backpacks into Christian churches in three states was simultaneously assembling bomb-making materials in Colorado, according to a federal investigation. He was convicted Friday of a federal hate crime. A federal jury in Sacramento, Calif., returned a guilty verdict against Zimnako Salah, 45, to conclude an 11-day trial. Salah, between September and November of 2023, traveled to four Christian churches in Arizona, California, and Colorado while wearing black backpacks. At two of those churches, Salah planted the backpacks, "placing congregants in fear that they contained bombs," the U.S. Department of Justice stated in a press release . At the other two churches, including one in Greenwood Village, Salah was confronted by security before he got the chance to leave the backpacks behind. Salah visited the unnamed Greenwood Village church on Nov. 19, 2023. Kevin Heaton, now a captain with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office, was working during his off-duty hours for the church that day. "I noticed a male wearing a red hat retrieving a black back pack (sic) from a light green Toyota Prius parked in the visitor area," Heaton stated in a report to federal investigators. "The male put the back pack on his back and began to walk toward the main entrance." Heaton greeted the man, later identified as Salah, and walked with him into the church. Salah walked toward the church's bathrooms. When Heaton followed him, Salah turned around, walked back to his car, and left the church property, Heaton said. Heaton notified church staff. Together, they checked the bathrooms and Salah's route through the church. They found nothing suspicious. That was not the case a week earlier in Roseville, California. Security cameras showed a man later identified as Salah entering the Christian church in the Sacramento suburb during Sunday morning services. He walked directly into a men's restroom carrying a black backpack. He left the church - without the backpack - through the same side door less than four minutes later. Church personnel found the backpack, called 9-1-1, and began evacuating children from nearby classrooms. One volunteer, a former sheriff's deputy, decided to unlatch the backpack from the toilet, per a court document. She later told investigators that, before handling it, she thought she "might meet Jesus today." She carried the backpack into the parking lot and opened it. A pillow was the only item inside. The volunteer later admitted to making a big mistake by touching the backpack. There were no witnesses to Salah's presence in the church. But when police arrived, officers found several images on the church's security cameras. Also, recordings from highway cameras near the church caught a green Toyota Prius with Arizona plates around the same time Salah was entering and leaving the church. The Federal Bureau of Investigation distributed an alert days later - an alert that was received in Colorado and used by the Arapahoe County deputy. Following the Colorado encounter, the FBI issued another alert. From it, they learned about another incident. Two months earlier, a man on a motorcycle had walked into a Christian church in Scottsdale, Arizona, during services. This person was dressed in all back and wore a black facemask, per the report, and "appeared to be trying to conceal their identity," per the court document. The person left a black backpack between seats in the church's worship center. Police found clothing inside. Later, federal investigators found the motorcycle used in the Arizona incident at Salah's former residence in Phoenix. The current residents there told federal investigators they purchased it in August 2023 from Salah's mother. She had recently returned to Iraq. Salah still had items stored there. One of the residents described to federal investigators Salah's negative reaction to a hat he wore displaying an American flag. Salah, per the report, told the resident, "F*** this country. I hate America. This country went to Iraq and killed a lot of people." Federal investigators also attributed two more attempts in October 2023 to Salah. Both occurred at a Christian church in La Mesa, California, a suburb of San Diego. There, a security guard followed a man with a black backpack walking in the parking lot. The man immediately left. But security reported seeing the same man days later. The Middle Eastern man lied about belonging to a family he was standing in line with at a children's ministry. An off-duty police officer working church security then tailed the man with the backpack as he entered a bathroom and walked through an auditorium. The man eventually left the building - still wearing his backpack - and drove off in a Toyota Prius. Later, investigators pinged Salah's phone to the area. Salah was eventually arrested in the San Diego area six days after the Colorado incident. In an interview, Salah told investigators he was a Sunni from Northern Iraq who has been living in Arizona for approximately 20 years. When investigators searched the Salah's Prius, they found a receipt for a storage unit in Colorado. Inside that storage unit, they found propane canisters (one of which had wiring protruding from the neck), strips of duct tape with nails attached to the adhesive side, wire cutters and more wiring, a battery connected to wiring, what appeared to be an Islamic Koran, and a bed mat. The storage unit was located 15 minutes from the Christian church in Greenwood Village. In Salah's phone, federal investigators found records of social media searches to what they called extremist propaganda. Those records included searches for videos of "Infidels dying," per the court document. Other videos which Salah allegedly searched for and watch depicted ISIS terrorists murdering people. "This Department of Justice has no tolerance for anyone who targets religious Americans for their faith," U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi stated in the DOJ's press release. "The perpetrator of this abhorrent hate crime against Christians will face severe punishment." "Planting a hoax bomb at the Roseville church was not an isolated incident or a prank for this defendant," Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith for the Eastern District of California added. "His actions were designed to threaten and intimidate the congregation because he disagreed with their religious beliefs. "People of all religions should be able to worship freely and exercise their First Amendment rights in this country without fear of violence." Salah is scheduled to be sentenced July 18. He faces a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Yahoo
Man convicted in hate crimes targeting Christian churches, including one in Colorado
DENVER (KDVR) — A man who walked into a Denver area church with a backpack in 2023 was convicted for crimes targeting Christian churches, in which he would use a backpack with the intent to convey a hoax bomb threat. The U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday that 45-year-old Zimnako Salah of Phoenix was found guilty by a federal jury after an 11-day trial. According to a press release, Salah was convicted for strapping a backpack around a toilet in a Christian church in Roseville, California, 'with the intent to convey a hoax bomb threat and to obstruct the free exercise of religion of the congregants who worshipped there.' A special finding in the verdict determined that Salah 'targeted the church because of the religion of the people who worshipped there, making the offense a hate crime.' Salah traveled to four Christian churches in Arizona, California and Colorado from September to November of 2023. At the churches, the DOJ said he wore black backpacks, which he used to make congregants fear that there was a bomb. He planted the bags inside two churches and was confronted by security before he planted them at two others. In November 2023, the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office said Salah was seen wearing a black backpack and walking into a church near S. Dayton St. and E. Belleview Ave. on the morning of Nov. 19. The sheriff's office said he was greeted by a uniformed deputy who was working off-duty and continued to walk toward the restrooms and left wearing the backpack shortly after. The DOJ said that while he had been using the backpacks to make threats, he was building a bomb that could fit in a backpack. A Federal Bureau of Investigation Bomb Technician searched his storage unit and seized items that an FBI Bomb Expert testified were parts of an improvised explosive device. Additionally, a search of his social media records found that he searched for extremist propaganda using terms like 'infidels dying' and watched videos depicting ISIS murders, the DOJ said. Salah is set to be sentenced on July 18 and faces a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Multiple agencies assisted with the investigation, including the FBI, Roseville Police Department, San Diego Police Department, San Diego Harbor Police Department and the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
