Arvada man sentenced to 192 years for 2021 Dollar General shooting

An Arvada man will spend 192 years in prison for two charges of attempted murder in connection to a shooting at a Dollar General Store in 2021.

Adams County District Court Judge Sean Finn sentenced 51-year-old Johnny McCaslin last week on two counts of first-degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree assault and several violent violent crime sentence enhancers in connection to a shooting that occurred on Jan. 26, 2021, according to a news release from the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

The Adams County District jury found McCaslin guilty of the charges on March 18. Months later, on Nov. 7, a second jury found McCaslin guilty of being a habitual criminal and found he was previously convicted of burglary of a dwelling on six separate occasions and was on parole at the time of the shooting, authorities said.

The 192-year sentence was the mandatory minimum for all of the various convictions.

The shooting at the Dollar Store near West 53rd Place and Sheridan Boulevard in Adams County was unprovoked, the district attorney’s office said.

McCaslin and his girlfriend were shopping at the store. After checking out, McCaslin pulled out a handgun and attempted to fire it at a mentally disabled man. The gun initially did not fire, but McCaslin fixed the gun and fired at the man multiple times. He then fired at the man’s mother, who was in a wheelchair. 

The shooting was caught on surveillance camera footage and, in a later interview, McCaslin admitted to the crime.

The male victim was shot once in the stomach and needed several feet of his internal organs removed during emergency surgery due to internal bleeding, authorities said. The female victim was shot in the thigh, leg and foot. Both survived.

Two days later, the Arvada Police Department and Jefferson County SWAT dispatched to the suspect’s home to serve a parole violation arrest warrant. 

The attempted arrest led to a six-hour standoff, and the Arvada police needed reinforcement from the Denver Metro SWAT Team. The suspect was eventually arrested, though the tactics used to apprehend him were not disclosed. 

“These horrific shootings are absolutely unconscionable,” District Attorney Brian Mason said in the release. “This defendant ambushed two at-risk individuals, one of whom was in a wheelchair, in broad daylight, in the middle of a store, for no reason at all — and shot them multiple times, leaving them for dead. It truly shocks the conscience. If not for the amazing medical team at Denver Health, these two victims would not be alive today.”

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