A man who shot into a crowd celebrating the Denver Nuggets 2023 NBA Championship victory downtown was sentenced to 35 years in prison on attempted murder and drug charges, with an eight year sentence to be served concurrently. 

Ricardo Vasquez injured four people early in the morning on June 13, 2023, as revelers spilled out of downtown bars and marched to Lower Downtown from Ball Arena after the Nuggets beat the Miami Heat June 12 for the franchise’s first NBA Championship. 

He was arrested shortly after the shooting.

2nd Judicial District Judge Martin Egelhoff sentenced Vasquez to 35 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for attempted murder and eight years for possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute.

At his sentencing Friday in Denver District Court, Vasquez tried to withdraw his guilty plea. He told Egelhoff that he was unhappy with his attorneys, that he was not the first person who fired, and said he was just as much a victim as the people he injured. 

He explained that he attended the celebration to have fun, with no intent to kill anyone.

“They’re charging me with extreme indifference. That’s something they should charge James Holmes with,” said Vasquez, referring to the Aurora Theater shooter. He claimed he fired the gun in self-defense.

“I had to do what I had to do,” he said.

In their sentencing statement, Denver prosecutor Kim Fallone had little sympathy for Vasquez saying he could have easily killed someone.

“He  shot into a crowd of people and police officers,” noting that body-worn cameras showed  “whizzing of bullets going through the air.”

A few of the four victims injured that night were in the courtroom and others listened virtually. Proceedings have been so intense, that Egelhoff warned people to refrain from making outbursts and when the sentencing was over, had security guards escort out some of those present. 

Vasquez, now 24, pleaded guilty at the end of January to one count of attempted murder — which was amended to include all four victims he injured — a drug charge of possession with intent to distribute, and a crime of violence sentence enhancer.

He was also ordered to pay more than $18,000 in restitution. 

The shooting, which took place after midnight in the 2000 block of Market Street in LoDo — near View House and several other bars near Coors Field — left nine bystanders injured. Vasquez was also wounded in the exchange of gunfire.

A second suspect, Raoul Jones, was also arrested on a weapons charge after the shooting, pleaded guilty, and is serving a one-year prison sentence.

The third suspect, Kenneth Blakely, was arrested 10 days after the shooting. He also faces attempted murder charges.

Denver Gazette reporter Sage Kelley contributed to this report.