Four teens avoid prison after shooting in Hinkley parking lot
The last of four teenagers arrested for their roles in a November 2021 shooting in Hinkley High School parking lot was sentenced last week.
All four had long prison sentences withdrawn in favor of assignments to a state youth rehabilitation program.
Prosecutors called the shooting the culmination of an ongoing argument between rival gangs.
Dalen Brewer was the driver of a white pickup truck that stopped in the parking lot next to another vehicle at about noon on November 19, 2021. As the people sitting inside the other vehicle got out of it, an argument began. Brewer then drove away.
Surveillance video obtained by investigators showed Brewer and passenger Larry Jefferson firing handguns at the people from the other vehicle.
Other students in the parking lot scattered.
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An Aurora Public Schools security officer fired his weapon at the white pickup truck, then applied a tourniquet to an injured student in the parking lot.
Three students - a 17-year-old male, a 17-year-old female, and a 16-year-old male - were injured by gunfire.
There were numerous shell casings, of different calibers, that were found on scene.
Brewer, Jefferson, both 16, were arrested Dec. 2, along with another 16-year-old. A fourth person, 17-year-old Alejandro Hernandez, was arrested days later.
All four were initially charged with four counts of attempted first degree murder, plus assault and weapons charges.
Eventually, Brewer, Jefferson and Hernandez reached plea agreements with prosecutors from the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office. All pleaded guilty to attempted second degree murder. All other charges were dropped.
Brewer and Jefferson were handed identical sentences at the beginning of April - 25 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. The judge then suspended that sentence and ordered the two to serve seven years in the DOC's Youthful Offenders System.
Hernandez was sentenced April 17 to five years in the Youth Offenders System. In his case, a 20-year DOC prison term was suspended.
The fourth individual was returned to juvenile court, according to the DA's Office. The terms of that sentence have not been made public.
"These defendants put many lives at risk during what should have been a normal lunch hour on campus," District Attorney John Kellner stated in a press release. "Kids, their parents and teachers all deserve to feel safe at school. While no sentence can fully restore the lost feeling of security, it should deter future acts of senseless violence at school."
The DOC's Youthful Offender System houses 14- to 19-year-olds in Pueblo with the aim of rehabilitating juveniles for their return to society.