Colorado man arrested, charged in 2022 Aurora murder also suspect in Ma Kaing murder

The man arrested and charged in connection with a murder that happened nearly two years ago in Aurora was already in custody for another murder that happened in Denver. Lu Reh, 22, of Aurora, was arrested this week and charged with first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon in a deadly shooting from May 30, 2022.

Denver police officers responded to a report of a man lying in an alley between the 1600 blocks of Willow and Xanthia streets. The victim was identified as Ricardo Ryans, 44, and had been shot multiple times before he died at the scene. 

According to investigators, Ryans had been in a black 2015 Volkswagen Tiguan driven by a woman who told police she was taking Ryans to a local business on an errand. As they were driving away from the business, the woman told police that someone who had gotten out of a white sedan near East 16th Avenue and Alton Street fired multiple rounds into the passenger side of the Tiguan. Investigators confirmed that several 9mm shell casings were recovered at that scene. 

The woman told police she drove away, pulling over in the alley between Willow and Xanthia streets to check on Ryans, but he got out of the Tiguan and collapsed on the ground. The woman told police she drove to the motel where she was staying. 

Aurora homicide detectives said they identified Reh after nearly two years as the suspect through witness statements and forensic and ballistic evidence. Reh was already in custody at the Denver County Jail on an unrelated 2022 homicide at the time of his arrest for the Aurora shooting death. 

On July 15, 2022, businesswoman Ma Kaing was killed by a stray bullet while she was unloading groceries outside of her apartment on Xenia Street. Reh is one of four suspects arrested in Kaing's shooting death. 

The suspects are Nu Ra Ah La, Pa Reh, Lu Reh, and Swa Bay. The suspects are facing first-degree murder charges with extreme indifference, attempted first-degree murder with extreme indifference, and illegal discharge of a firearm.

The jury trial for Reh in Kaing's murder is scheduled to begin in Denver District Court on Aug. 6.