Shooting victim drove to hospital, collapsed in lobby after road rage collision

A man died in a road rage incident last month that started with a collision on a major arterial roadway but continued with three vehicles racing through a residential neighborhood in Aurora. A shooting ended the encounter as well as one driver's life. 

Francisco Zavaleta-Morales, 28, was identified Tuesday by the Arapahoe County Coroner's Office as the man who died. 

Arturo Moreno Torres, also 28, is one of two brothers whom Zavaleta-Morales allegedly tangled with on May 1. Torres was arrested May 26 and now faces a First Degree Murder charge. 

According to the arrest affidavit in the case, surveillance cameras captured images of the mens' three vehicles sitting in the northbound lanes of Sable Boulevard at the East Colfax Avenue intersection. All three were turning left onto westbound Colfax. Zavaleta-Morales was driving a blue Toyota Prius sedan, Arturo Torres was in a white Honda Civic, and Fernando Torres, 19, was behind the wheel of a white Ford F-150. 

All the vehicles appeared to leave the intersection peacefully, according to the affidavit. What followed and actually caused tempers to flare is not known, but the Torres brothers later told police investigators that Zavaleta-Morales aggressively drove at the F-150 and swerved into their lanes while "brake checking". The Prius, they said, eventually collided with the side of the Civic, popping the spare tire on its front passenger side. 

Those Aurora Police Department detectives found witnesses in the Hoffman Heights neighborhood who recorded on their phones the three vehicles East 13th Avenue. One woman described the Civic as "limping." As the cars Those witnesses also heard gunshots. 

Fernando Torres told APD detectives he saw his brother's Civic and the blue Prius circling one another in the roadway between Ursula and Worchester Streets. He saw his brother shoot at the Prius and heard two shots, according to the affidavit. 

Investigators later found 9mm casings at this location, plus gouges in the street surface indicative of a car driving on a rim. 

Arturo Torres admitted to investigators he fired a gun at the Prius's hood, but said he had no idea whether he hit the Prius's driver. 

Fernando Torres told investigators he picked up his brother after the shooting, a statement which was confirmed by a witness's cell phone video recording. The pair went home afterward. 

Zavaleta-Morales drove the Prius to UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, located about four blocks from the shooting scene. He walked into the lobby approximately 15 minutes after the first call reporting shots fired was made to 9-1-1. He collapsed, and died during surgery. Two gunshot wounds were found on his lower stomach, and two presumed exit wounds on his back.  

The afternoon of May 26, Aurora officers came upon the pickup being driven by Fernando Torres, followed it to the brothers' home, and brought both brothers in for questioning. Both men described Arturo Torres shooting at the Prius.

Investigators found four bullet holes in the driver's side of the Prius, which also bore license plates that were stolen from a vehicle in Denver, according to the affidavit. 

Zavaleta-Morales had been arrested the last week of April in the same car for DUI, Driving Without a License, and other traffic infractions. 

Arturo Torres's Civic was determined to have been stolen from the driveway of a Centennial residence in late April, per the affidavit. 

Arturo Torres is scheduled to appear in Arapahoe County Court on June 16. Denver prosecutors await the Arapahoe County outcome; Arturo Torres never returned to court there following an arrest in July 2022 for auto theft.