After long wait for forensic test results, Jeremy Alan Smith arrested in Colorado Tesla supercharger station shooting
For months, the family of Colorado shooting victim Adam Fresquez has been demanding that authorities provide answers to their questions about the events that led up the 33-year-old's death. On Tuesday Edgewater police provided some of those answers in announcing the arrest of Jeremy Alan Smith, 39. They say tests on forensic evidence that took a long time to process was part of the reason for the delayed action.
"Our family is not whole. It is completely broken. It's never going to be repaired," Fresquez's sister Crystal said in September. Her family told CBS Colorado in an off-camera conversation that they are now working through the emotions of this week's development.
Smith and Fresquez were both driving Teslas in early May and allegedly had some sort of road rage confrontation at a Tesla supercharger station. Smith shot Fresquez and contacted 911 afterwards, reporting that he fired after Fresquez pulled a gun on him. He claimed he was acting in self defense.
"My brother was the victim, he was shot and maced in the back, not once but twice," Crystal said five months after the crime in a plea for charges. In announcing the arrest of Smith this week, police said surveillance video showed that was indeed what happened. They say both men had guns.
They also stated that the forensic evidence testing that was a crucial part of their investigation didn't come back until this month.
"Our priority from the beginning of the case was to present a thorough and complete investigation. I recognize the tremendous toll that the long wait has taken on Adam's family," Edgewater Police Chief Eric Sonstegard said in a statement.
Smith, a Denver resident, now faces charges including second-degree murder. He was being held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail and was scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday morning.