Emotions spilled over at a Denver courthouse elevator Thursday when grieving families met after a tense hearing in the high-profile homicide case of a Denver teenager.

One family’s son was brutally murdered. The other family’s son faces a life-in-prison sentence if convicted of first-degree murder charge.

Diego Lopez, 17, is being tried as an adult. Police and prosecutors allege he murdered Josiaz “JoJo” Aragon, who was killed two days before his 15th birthday near a baseball field behind Denver’s Southwest Recreation Center.

He’d been shot in the back, stabbed and stomped on in broad daylight. The violent murder floored even the most seasoned Denver homicide detectives, according to the arrest affidavit. It appears to be gang-related, investigators said.

The document revealed that neighborhood video surveillance cameras led law enforcement to a teenager who was caught on footage running from the area of the crime scene.

Lopez’s attorneys are trying to return the case back to juvenile court. 

JoJo’s dad’s family, the Dominguez, filled two rows of Denver District courtroom 5A to hear what would happen next in Lopez’ court process. Not ten feet away and across the aisle, Lopez’s family sat quietly as he answered District Court Judge Martin Egelhoff’s questions over Webex from Gilliam Youth Services Center. 

The drama began as the next court date was decided. JoJo Aragon’s mother, Autumn, yelled “No!” and slammed the palm of her hand on the wooden rail which separates the gallery from attorneys. “My son!” she yelled at the courtroom monitor.

Autumn Aragon, who was wearing a black Chicago White Sox baseball cap and sunglasses, stormed out of the room as a man followed her asking her to “chill.” 

Minutes later, Aragon’s father’s side of the family walked single file down the hallway. They told one reporter that they attended the hearing to see “justice for JoJo.” When they rounded the corner to the elevator, Autumn Aragon screamed and cursed at them, as the man continued to restrain her.

His father said that feelings are still raw just two months from the boy’s tragic death.

Saad Dominguez told The Denver Gazette he has had moments of grief, but wanted to distinguish his side of the family from the Aragon side. 

“There’s a time and a place for everything,” he said, speaking out against courtroom outbursts. “It was intoxicated emotion without any respect for the courts.” 

Six Denver sheriffs deputies met the two families on the first floor, separated them and escorted them down the sidewalk to safety.

“We just want to make sure no one gets hurt,” said one. 

Lopez’s next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 3 for what his attorneys at Springer and Steinberg predict will be a full day of proceedings. Scheduled for that day is a preliminary hearing, a proof-evident-presumption-great hearing and a request for a reverse transfer hearing as attorneys attempt to send the case back to juvenile court.