UPDATE: 2 teens fatally shot in southeast Colorado Springs identified; suspect arrested
The two teens found dead early Sunday at a southeast Colorado Springs apartment complex have been identified as Marcus Venezio-Hernandez and Nevean Tafoya, the city’s first and second homicide victims of the year, law enforcement said Thursday.
Venezio-Hernandez, 13, and Tafoya, 15, lived in Pueblo, Colorado Springs Police Department public information officer Lt. James Sokolik said in a news release, adding that city police were not investigating new homicides at this time last year. The city’s first homicide in 2021 didn’t occur until Jan. 23.
The suspected shooter, 19-year-old Kadin Dyer Blaschke, was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force in Reno, Nev., on Thursday, officials with the agency said. Blaschke was found at a Motel 6 on Wells Street. He was arrested without incident. He was booked into the Washoe County Detention Facility where he awaits extradition to Colorado.
Police received calls reporting shots fired in the 1900 block of South Chelton Road shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday. Officers found multiple gunshot victims, in addition to the bodies of Venezio-Hernandez and Tafoya. Three of the wounded — two adults and a juvenile — were transported to a local hospital and later released, Sokolik said.
Minutes after receiving calls regarding the shooting, dispatchers received another call regarding a juvenile with gunshot wounds at a private residence less than a mile away.
The injured male was transported to a local hospital, where he was admitted for serious, but nonlife-threatening injuries. He was shot in the incident on South Chelton Road, police said.
Witnesses and those with information are asked to call the Colorado Springs Police Department at (719) 440-7000, or, if they wish to remain anonymous, Crime Stoppers at 719-634-7867 or 1-800-222-8477.
Gazette reporters Chhun Sun and Hugh Johnson contributed to this report.
Kadin Dyer Blaschke, 19, is suspected of shooting and killing two teens at a southeast Colorado Springs apartment complex on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022. He was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force in Reno, Nev., on Thursday, Jan. 13.
kali9, iStock