Centennial teen killed in apparent robbery of vape products

Lloyd Chavez, 18, is remembered as a skilled rugby player

Posted 5/18/19

A Cherokee Trail High School student died after being shot during what was planned as a robbery of vaping products he sold, according to arrest affidavits for four teenagers allegedly involved in the …

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Centennial teen killed in apparent robbery of vape products

Lloyd Chavez, 18, is remembered as a skilled rugby player

Posted

A Cherokee Trail High School student died after being shot during what was planned as a robbery of vaping products he sold, according to arrest affidavits for four teenagers allegedly involved in the incident.

Lloyd Alvin Chavez, 18, was shot after the four area students pulled up to his house in east Centennial in what they had represented as a transaction on the night of May 8, according to the affidavits by the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office. Chavez later died at an area hospital.

Kenneth Alfonso Gallegos, Juliana Alexis Serrano, Dominic Jarrod Stager and Demarea Deshawn Mitchell arrived at Chavez's home in a meeting set up through Serrano's Snapchat account to buy vape juice, a nicotine product for electronic cigarettes, the documents say. Gallegos, Serrano and Stager are 17, and Mitchell is 16.

The money involved in the incident totaled only $25, the affidavit said. Chavez has been remembered as a skilled rugby player and a good-natured friend, according to Denver area media reports.

The four suspects have all been charged with first-degree felony murder, aggravated robbery, conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, and two “sentence enhancers” related to violent crime with a weapon and causing death, which apply if the case ends in a guilty plea or verdict, according to the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office.

Here is what is known about the shooting, according to the affidavit:

Chavez, who had been robbed once before, sold vape products in transactions arranged over Snapchat, a friend of his told law enforcement. Around the time of the shooting, Chavez told the friend he was going to make $150 and had two other buyers in contact as well.

Gallegos, Serrano, Stager and Mitchell intended to steal Chavez's “juice” in a plan that began days before he was shot, Serrano told an investigator. Gallegos “did not like” Chavez because Chavez knew Serrano's ex-boyfriend. Gallegos is also an ex-boyfriend of Serrano, according to Chavez's friend.

Serrano originally told an investigator she arranged to buy from Chavez but that the group didn't intend to steal from him. She later said the other three in the group planned to steal from him, that she told Gallegos not to do it and that her intent to get vape product "turned into a plan to rob" Chavez that she went along with.

The four suspects pulled up to Chavez's home near East Smoky Hill Road and South Picadilly Street, where he walked up to a window of the car and received cash from Serrano, the affidavit says. He walked away without giving them the product, Serrano said, and Mitchell got out of the car and questioned Chavez about it.

Chavez threw Mitchell onto the lawn, according to Serrano's account, and that's when he was shot. He ran back inside his home and had his sister call 9-1-1. Vape products were later found on Chavez's lawn and in his room.

The four suspects sped away and were in shock because they didn't intend to shoot Chavez but, rather, threaten him with the gun if he didn't give them the product, according to Serrano's account.

Serrano later said she didn't actually see the gun in anyone's hands but described it as a “smaller gun” and saw a laser on Chavez around the time he was shot.

Before Chavez died during surgery at the hospital, he told a nurse and a sheriff's deputy that Gallegos shot him. Serrano said it was Mitchell who shot Chavez.

Gallegos believed himself to be addicted to JUUL pods, a type of vape product, according to his parents.

According to statements to law enforcement, Serrano is a student at Cherokee Trail along with Stager, and Gallegos is a student at Grandview High School who recently transferred from Cherokee Trail. Mitchell was identified in photos provided by a Cherokee Trail school resource officer.

Lloyd Chavez, Centennial Colorado, teen shot, Cherokee Trail High School

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