Arapahoe County Judge Ryan James Stuart sentenced Dalen Brewer, 18, and Larry Jefferson, 17, to 7 years in the Youthful Offenders System for their roles in a 2021 shooting outside Hinkley High School.
On November 19, 2021, police officers in Aurora were dispatched to a shooting that occurred in the school’s parking lot. Just before 12 p.m. that day, surveillance cameras showed a white truck pulling into the lot and stopping near another vehicle. Several people got out of both cars and started arguing. The investigation later revealed the confrontation stemmed from an ongoing conflict between rival gang members.
Shots were fired in the parking lot and surveillance video shows multiple students running away from the scene. The parking lot surveillance camera also shows as the white suspect truck begins to drive North in the lot, Dalen Brewer, the driver, and Larry Jefferson, the passenger, are seen shooting handguns out of the window.
Brewer and Jefferson both pleaded guilty to 2nd Degree Attempted Murder with no sentencing concessions and were sentenced by the judge to a 7-year sentence in the Youthful Offender System with a 25-year DOC sentence suspended upon successful completion of the program.
A third defendant’s case was sent to juvenile court for sentencing and per Juvenile statutes, we are unable to release that juvenile’s name or case file.
A fourth defendant, Alejandro H. Carillo, 19, will also be sentenced on April 17 after pleading guilty to 2nd Degree Attempted Murder.
“No sentence can make the victims whole or take away the trauma of having your sense of safety at school shattered,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Andrew Steers said. “We respect the court’s decision to sentence to the Youthful Offender System.”
You can read more about the Youthful Offender System here.
“These defendants put many lives at risk during what should have been a normal lunch hour on campus,” District Attorney John Kellner said. “Kids, their parents and teachers all deserve to feel safe at school. While no sentence can fully restore the lost feeling of security, it should deter future acts of senseless violence at school.”
Brewer was sentenced on April 3, 2023
Jefferson was sentenced on April 4, 2023