Man found guilty of murdering 21-year-old in Lakewood in 2019
A Jefferson County jury has found Christopher Pride guilty of the death of 21-year-old Roderick Vecchiarelli during a shooting in Lakewood in 2019.
Pride, 31, was found guilty of first-degree murder, four counts of aggravated robbery and four counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery after a two-week trial and two-day deliberation.
Pride was found not guilty of first-degree murder after deliberation, first-degree assault and attempted first-degree murder for shooting 49-year-old Angela Saiz-Ortiz.
The Lakewood Police Department said the incident happened on June 17, 2019, at a home at 1550 Depew St. Two victims, Vecchiarelli and Saiz-Ortiz, were found with multiple gunshot wounds. They had been robbed before they were shot, police said.
Vecchiarelli died of his injuries and Saiz-Ortiz, who was shot multiple times in the legs, survived.
Witnesses saw four suspects flee the scene in a vehicle that was later involved in a crash in Edgewater. Two of the occupants stayed at the crash site but two others took off. Police said the two who ran were the shooters.
Pride was identified as one of the shooters using surveillance footage and cellphone records. He was arrested on July 18, 2019, in Colorado Springs.
Pride was on federal probation and supervised probation at the time of the murder. Pride’s lengthy criminal history includes previous arrests for assault, robbery, motor vehicle theft, drugs and multiple weapons violations.
Pride will be sentenced for the murder on June 29. He is expected to receive life in prison.
The second shooter was identified as 19-year-old Keshun Bastian, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree assault and two counts of aggravated robbery. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison on March 16.





