Christopher Michael Pride (DOB: 11-02-1989) was sentenced by the First Judicial District Court to life in prison without the possibility of parole Wednesday. In May, a jury found Pride guilty of murdering 21-year-old Roderick Vecchiarelli and robbing a woman who was shot multiple times in Lakewood in 2019.
“Chris Pride took the life of my only grandson,” said Cynthia Emma Haines, Vecchiarelli’s grandmother. “He took a young man’s future. He took away a huge part of our family and he even took away a life for himself. There won’t be a day that goes by that I won’t think of Roderick and wish that he was still here. My family will forever be healing from this.”
In the early morning hours of June 17, 2019, officers from the Lakewood Police Department responded to reports of shots fired at the Mountayre Trailer Park off of West Colfax Avenue on Depew Street. Vecchiarelli was found with multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced deceased after being transported to St. Anthony’s Hospital. A woman with Vecchiarelli had been shot multiple times in her legs and was in critical condition but survived after emergency treatment at Denver Health.
Witnesses reported seeing a vehicle speed away from the scene shortly after the gunshots. A vehicle matching the description was found shortly after by Edgewater police officers investigating a traffic accident. Danny Carter, Jr., (DOB: 05-14-1983) and a woman passenger were apprehended after being seen walking away from the vehicle.
The ensuing investigation revealed that there were two other passengers in the vehicle who ran away before officers arrived. Through cellphone records and surveillance footage, Pride was identified as one of the passengers and a shooter in the incident. On federal probation and supervised probation at the time of the murder, he was arrested in Colorado Springs on July 18, 2019.
Pride was convicted on May 14 of Felony Murder along with four charges of Aggravated Robbery and another four for Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Robbery. The judge included an additional consecutive sentence of 64 years to life in Wednesday’s decision for the robbery of Vecchiarelli and the woman.
“This senseless act of violence has devastated the families of Roderick Vecchiarelli and the other victim who suffered severe harm,” said Chris Brousseau, a Chief Deputy District Attorney in the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office (Gilpin/Jefferson). “Hopefully they will feel some sense of closure with this sentence.”
Keshun Lavelle Bastian (DOB: 08-28-2001) – identified as the other passenger who ran from the vehicle and the second shooter – was sentenced to 45 years in prison on March 18 after pleading guilty to Second-Degree Murder, First-Degree Assault with a Deadly Weapon and two counts of Aggravated Robbery.
For his role in the incident, Carter pled guilty to Aggravated Robbery and Accessory to Crime charges. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison on October 22.