DENVER -- A multi-state violent crime spree that started in Colorado is now broken up. Federal agents spent the night searching a northwest Denver home for firearms connected to several robberies and murders across the metro area.
Three of the men arrested are believed to have been involved in a pawn shop robbery in Sheridan in May. In that case, six men armed with handguns, shotguns and machine guns stormed a Pawn One shop, breaking display cases and getting away with 27 handguns, three shotguns and about $100,000 worth of jewelry.
Investigators say that robbery was the beginning of a nationwide crime spree that took the men from Colorado, to Phoenix, Ariz., to Chicago, then on to Charlotte, N.C., and back to Colorado.
"That's just half of the problem that we're dealing with, it's people with guns out there using them in violent crimes. And when guns of this magnitude are stolen and put on the street, it's our responsibility to recover the guns and put them in the penitentiary," said Richard Marianos, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Detectives told 7NEWS that one of the men now in custody murdered 60-year-old Jose Fuentes inside Rachael's Video Store in Aurora in late June when the suspect returned to the state.
"He was such a special man, he is very much missed," Gladys Fuentes said of her murdered uncle.
The suspects currently in custody are said to have also confessed to two robberies in Aurora and several in Denver. Federal agents say the criminals even murdered their own ringleader while in North Carolina. That's where they're accused of robbing a store with guns from the Pawn One, and left fingerprints that were traced back to them, 7NEWS reported.
The investigation is still ongoing but officials hope to solve several robberies, assault and murders in the metro area because of the break in the case.
"They are armed robbers and they are terrorizing the community," said Marianos.
Gladys Fuentes is overjoyed to hear of the recent arrest and knows that the man who killed her uncle and others in his gang will get their punishment.
"It was meant for them to get caught because God knows, God has a plan," she said.
One suspect was captured in Charlotte, while driving away from a robbery, authorities said. Another was caught Monday in Wheat Ridge and a third was arrested Tuesday in Denver, Sheridan police said.
"We have kind of changed the direction of the investigation this week by putting more resources into it," said Marianos.
Authorities did not identify the suspects but said the men arrested in Colorado are ages 18 and 19. Officers were trying to get warrants Wednesday to arrest three others.
The seventh suspect was found dead in a hotel in Charlotte and may have been shot by his own gang, Sheridan police Sgt. Gary Firko said.
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Crimes Across Country May Be Linked To Colo. Group
