Manuel Garcia (DOB: 7-29-2001) and Autumn Lucero (DOB: 5-27-1998) were sentenced on Tuesday by the First Judicial District Court for their involvement in the crime spree that ran through three cities over the course of a day and ended with the murder of 56-year-old Rene Perez of Lakewood.
Garcia pled guilty to Second Degree Murder, Attempt to Commit Assault in the First Degree, and Robbery, and received 41 years in prison. Lucero pled guilty to Illegal Discharge of a Firearm, Accessory to Crime and Assault in the Second Degree and received 12 years in prison. Garcia and Lucero were the final two defendants to be sentenced in the case.
On Jan. 5, 2022, Alec Destree (DOB: 12-25-98) was sentenced to life in prison after a Jefferson County jury found him guilty at trial of First Degree Murder, Second Degree Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Robbery, and three counts of Aggravated Robbery. On Jan. 27, 2022, Dominic Maestas (DOB: 6-18-2000) was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his involvement after he pled guilty to Murder in the Second Degree and Aggravated Robbery. Beginning just after noon on Oct. 14, 2019, Garcia, Lucero and Maestas committed an armed robbery of a group of high-school students who were on their lunch break from Arvada High School. Later that night, all four defendants drove to a home in Littleton where Garcia fired multiple shots into the windows and doors of a family of four.
Following that shooting, the same individuals drove around looking for a vehicle to steal or a person to rob. Perez, who worked as a janitor, was returning home from work just after midnight, and as he parked his car and opened the door, he was confronted and shot by Destree. All defendants fled the scene and Perez later died from his injuries.
“You have an innocent family who was terrorized in their own home, innocent children who were terrorized while on their lunch break from school, and an innocent man who paid the ultimate price for not giving up his car keys – all for nothing,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Brenna Zortman. “Not one person – not even one – did anything to put themselves in the path that these defendants carved that day. These were innocent, random victims whose lives were forever changed. I hope these final sentences provide a sense of justice to everyone who was impacted by this tragedy.”