Posted on 01/03/2008 9:51:16 PM PST by beaversmom
DENVER -- "I know my brother's innocent," said Leo Aragon outside his brother's apartment on Wolff Street in Denver.
Aragon was one of several people packing up truckloads of belongings from the apartment his brother, 25-year-old Pedro Cortez, shared with his family.
"They're scared to stay here," Aragon said.
Cortez was arrested by police and and held for investigation of two counts of first-degree murder on Wednesday.
According to the arrest affidavit, investigators said Cortez told them he fired a celebratory shot on New Year's and was aiming at a street light.
Instead, police said, he hit the house behind the light pole, killing 11-year-old Angelica Martinez and her distant cousin, 47-year-old Becky Yanez, as they celebrated inside a home hundreds of yards away.
Aragon said he knew something bad was going to happen on New Year's Eve.
"Everybody has parties. New Year's is a day to shoot guns. That's what happens," he said.
"Somebody shot the bullet through the wood. It hit the lady in the head and then it hit Angelica," said 11-year-old Martin Vasquez, a friend who was at the party at the moment the fatal shot was fired.
"I was trying to help her. Her nose was bleeding really fast," he said of Angelica.
Cortez is being held without bail pending filing of formal charges.
The family of Angelica Martinez is planning to set up a memorial outside the home where she was killed.
They have also set up a fund under her name at TCF Bank.
Brother of accused shooter: 'New Year's is a day to shoot guns'
Mindless barbarians!
Cortez is being held without bail pending filing of formal charges.
Good .. This idiot should not be on the streets .
Since he was ‘only’ aiming at a street light, that makes it all okay? The ‘burbs aren’t the wild west, you idiots!
Yes, I have set off shotgun blasts on New Year’s eve, though not for over 40 years; and the nearest neighbors were a good 1/2 mile away.
Come to think of it, that was Dad’s antique 10 gauge black powder gun, and was just powder charges...no pellets. Lots of flame, noise & smoke; no pitter-patter of falling lead.
Excuse me?
Firing a deadly weapon is a way of “celebration?”
blowing out street lights is a new way to celebrate New Years?
Isn’t multi cultural diversity great?
I’m looking for where it is said they are illegal.
These people think they are back in their third-world countries of origin.
The death-penalty would be fully appropriate.
The dirtball family. Do we need more of these? Are the here legally? This is when we shoot guns? jeez
Generations of my family have been avid gun owners and I dont ever recall anyone shooting a gun in celebration, and until the last generation the nearest neighbor was at least a mile away.
Thia does remind me of a time I was on a student Eurail pass in Italy and spent New Years Eve in Rome.
We came home about 1 am and the owner of the hostel was running around the tenth floor of the apartment building (this was downtown Rome) shooting his shotgun out the windows for fun. I’m talking about 40 rounds, too. It was chaos. I don’t want to think about where that birdshot ended up.
Over in Cherryville, NC where my daughter lives they shoot antique 'muzzle loaders' for 18 straight hours. A tradition that goes back over 150 years.
Anyone who fires a firearm without knowing their target and what is or may be behind it is a flat out moron. These types of idiots are the only valid justification for banning private ownership of firearms. That said, the 2nd Amendment and my own (and other intelligent people’s) right to self defense trumps that, but I can at least understand and somewhat agree with that particular argument.
Final analysis: This azz#### deserves to rot in jail for the rest of his worthless life. And what a horrific tragedy for the victims and their families. My prayers go out to them.
An antique muzzle loader typically shoots a .50 cal ball. I hope they are just shooting powder (no ball), or else that is one of the most moronic things I’ve ever heard of. More like something that belongs in a third world nation...
They just shoot powder charges, but it is still fairly dangerous.
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