3 Colorado teenagers charged with homicide in rock-throwing dying
Three teenagers accused of throwing giant rocks at passing vehicles, one in every of which investigators say killed a 20-year-old lady, have been charged with homicide and different crimes
DENVER — Three teenagers accused of killing a 20-year-old lady whereas throwing giant rocks at passing vehicles have been charged with homicide and different crimes, prosecutors mentioned Wednesday.
Nicholas “Mitch” Karol-Chik, Joseph Koenig and Zachary Kwak, all 18, every face similar prices of first-degree homicide, tried first-degree homicide, second-degree assault and tried second-degree assault within the dying of Alexis Bartell — and alleged assaults on six different vehicles in suburban Denver, First Judicial District Lawyer Alexis King introduced.
Two different drivers suffered minor accidents, in response to investigators.
The workplace of Karol-Chik’s lawyer, Holly Gummerson, declined to remark. A message left for Kwak’s lawyer, Emily Boehne, who was in court docket, was not instantly returned. Koenig is represented by a lawyer from the general public defender’s workplace, which doesn’t remark to the media on circumstances.
In response to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Workplace, Bartell was speaking on the cellphone with a buddy when she was hit by the rock on April 19. After the decision went silent, the buddy tracked Bartell’s location with a cellphone app and located the girl lifeless in her automobile, which had crashed right into a subject.
Karol-Chik informed investigators that Koenig slowed down so Kwak may get a photograph of Bartell’s automobile after it crashed right into a subject. He mentioned all three obtained excited each time they hit a automobile with landscaping rocks taken from a Walmart parking zone, however acknowledged he felt “a touch of guilt” passing by her automobile, in response to court docket paperwork.
Kwak mentioned he took the photograph as a result of he thought that Karol-Chik or Koenig would need to have a “memento” of what had occurred, in response to the arrest affidavits.
Karol-Chik informed investigators with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Workplace that he and Koenig had thrown rocks and even a statue at passing vehicles on at the very least 10 different days earlier than Bartell was killed. Kwak heard about what they’d been doing and requested to hitch them, in response to Karol-Chik’s account within the affidavits.
Karol-Chik and Kwak provided totally different accounts about who threw the deadly rock. Koenig didn’t converse to investigators after he was arrested, in response to the arrest affidavits.
