DENVER – A man has been arrested after a person of interest was shot while trying to break into his vehicle early Friday morning, the Denver Police Department said in a statement Sunday.
Early Friday afternoon, Aurora police were sent to the area of E. Exposition Drive and S. Racine St. on a welfare check. There, police found a dead man inside a car, prompting a homicide investigation.
Details about how the man was killed or the circumstances that led to the shooting were not released until Sunday.
In a news release, a DPD spokesperson said the man was found dead inside a Dodge Charger from a gunshot wound. Investigators later determined the man was shot after allegedly trying to break into a car shortly after 4 a.m. in the area of S. Jasmine St. and E. Alameda Ave. – about five miles west of where he was found dead.
The investigation was turned over to DPD’s homicide unit, who would confirm the man was indeed involved in criminal trespass to a motor vehicle at that intersection in Denver, when he and other persons of interests were confronted by the car’s owner.
Detectives are now working to understand “the details of the interaction between the owner of the vehicle and the deceased,” saying they learned the owner of the vehicle fired his weapon multiple times during the vehicle break in.
Brice Fitch, 24, was taken into custody on Saturday and is being held for investigation of first-degree murder.
The identity of the man found dead inside the car will be released by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner at a later time.
Anyone with information regarding this crime is asked to call the Denver Police Department at (720) 913-2000 or Crime Stoppers at (720) 913-7867.
