Finger pushing
weather icon 74°F


Denver car wash shooting suspect involved in love triangle, arrest affidavit says

The suspect in a fatal Denver car wash shooting appears to have been involved in a love triangle prior to the killing, according to a Denver Police arrest affidavit.

Uriel Rios-Avila was arrested in connection with the fatal shooting at the Sinclair Gas Station, 620 Santa Fe Drive, early Sunday morning.

Rios-Avila, 32, is accused of riding his bicycle into a car wash bay and immediately firing two shots with a handgun through the driver’s side window, killing a 52-year-old man who was driving the vehicle.

Rios-Avila fled the area on his bicycle, police said.

A woman was in the vehicle at the time of the shooting and came into the gas station screaming and asking for help. She appeared to have a gunshot injury to one of her fingers, according to the arrest warrant.

The heavily-redacted affidavit shows Rios-Avila recently learned he was being cheated on and wanted to shoot someone over it.

Police tracked Rios-Avila to an area in the 400 block of Lions Street, but he ran away from officers into a homeless camp where he changed his clothes twice. He also tried to cut his hair to change his appearance, according to investigators.

Eventually police arrested Rios-Avila at 1:41 p.m. Sunday after he hid inside a hole under a set of train tracks in the 400 block of Osage Street, the affidavit said.

The victim of the shooting was not identified by police, and his name was redacted from the affidavit. The Denver Medical Examiner should release that information after the autopsy and after family are notified.

It wasn’t immediately known what charges Rios-Avila would face in connection to the shooting.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.  

Sign Up For Free: Weekly 7

Catch up with a rundown of the 7 most important and interesting stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday.

Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

function subscribeSuccess() {
var nsltrform = document.querySelector(“#nsltr”);
var nsltrSuccess = document.querySelector(“#successnsltr”);

nsltrform.classList.add(“hideblock”);
nsltrSuccess.classList.remove(“hideblock”);
}

function validateEmail(email) {
return String(email)
.toLowerCase()
.match(
/^(([^()[].,;:s@”]+(.[^()[].,;:s@”]+)*)|(“.+”))@(([[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}])|(([a-zA-Z-0-9]+.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,}))$/
);
}

function validateEmailAddress() {
const result = document.querySelector(“#result”);
const email = document.querySelector(“#email”).value;

result.innerText = “”;

if(validateEmail(email)) {
newsletterSubscribe(email);
} else {
result.innerText = ‘The email entered: ‘ + email + ‘ is not valid :(‘;
result.style.color = “red”;
}
return false;
}

function newsletterSubscribe(email) {
fetch(“https://services.gazette.com/mg2-newsletters.php?action=subscribe&site=denvergazette.com&emailPreferenceId=69&email=” + email, {
method: “POST”
}).then(res => {
console.log(“SUCCESSFUL POST”);
subscribeSuccess();
});

}

#nsltr {
min-width: 100%;
margin: 10px 0;
padding: 10px 20px;
background-color: #2076b3;

background-image: url(https://static.gazette.com/emails/circ/Audience%20Images/dg%20weekly%207.png);
background-size: cover;

}

#nsltr-header {
color: #fff4f4;
}
#nsltr-body {
text-align: center;
color: #ffffff;
}
#nsltr-button {
margin-top: 5px;
}
#successnsltr {
min-width: 100%;
margin: 10px 0;
padding: 10px 20px;
background-color: green;
text-align: center;
color: white;
}

#successnsltr a {
color: white;
}

.hideblock {
display:none;
}

h6 a {
color: black;
text-decoration: none;
padding: 5px;
background-color: #bbccdd;
font-weight: 600;
}

@media only screen and (min-width: 768px) {
#nsltr {
background-image: url(https://static.gazette.com/emails/circ/Audience%20Images/dg%20weekly%207.png);
background-size: cover;
}
}



Welcome Back.

Streak: 9 days i

Stories you've missed since your last login:

Stories you've saved for later:

Recommended stories based on your interests:

Edit my interests