Police: 2 Men, 1 Woman Behind 4-State Deadly Crime Spree Starting In Colorado Springs
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) - Denver police have teamed up with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office as part of a murder investigation that began in Colorado, and continued with robberies that spanned across the West. It all began with a shooting outside of a strip club in Colorado Springs just after midnight on Friday.
Sheriff's deputies responded to Déjà vu Showgirls on B Street for reports of a man shooting at the building. Officials say Matthew Fanelli, 30, started shooting when he was asked to leave the building.
No one was hurt, but Fanelli left the scene with a Hispanic man and a female employee who, authorities say, ran out of the building naked.
Denver police say a man and woman later shot and killed a man while stealing his car, a black Cadillac, near Colfax and Perry Street at 2 a.m. Friday, two hours after the strip club incident. Police later confirmed the same people were believed to be involved in both incidents.
Authorities say that two hours later, after 4 a.m., the suspects robbed a robbed a Loaf N' Jug convenience store in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Shots were fired but no one was hurt in that incident. Surveillance cameras captured photos of two men and a black Cadillac. A female passenger was said to be inside the car during the incident.
Then, six hours later, authorities say the same suspects robbed a Wells Fargo bank near Park City, Utah in the same black Cadillac.
Approximately 17 hours later, at around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, law enforcement in Roseburg, Oregon say they responded to a Red Robin restaurant for an attempted carjacking. The suspects, who authorities say are the same ones from the multi-state crime spree, ran away.
However, the second male, now identified as Jose Lopez-Jovel, 31, was left behind and subsequently arrested.
When authorities in Oregon found the suspect vehicle, a chase started going south on Interstate 5. They say the driver, allegedly Matthew Fanelli, shot at them several times.
Fanelli reportedly hit a commercial motor vehicle and a passenger car. One of the rounds hit a child seat inside which was holding a child at the time. Another round hit an Oregon State Patrol patrol car, disabling it.
After a few more moments, authorities lost sight of Fanelli until they say he tried to carjack another vehicle from a man and woman in Josephine County. The couple in the vehicle was arriving home. Authorities say Fanelli shot the man and assaulted the woman, but didn't end up stealing the car.
The man suffered critical injuries.
After a second chase, Fanelli's car became "disabled" and authorities arrested him. He and Lopez-Jovel are both jailed in Oregon.
Fanelli is wanted out of New Mexico. Lopez-Jovel is from El Salvador.
Details about the female accomplice have not been released.
