A Colorado man reportedly shot and killed a friend inside a cemetery after he said he was going to vomit near the friend’s grave.
Ryan Trujillo Falcone, 22, shot and killed Geno Eugene Chavez, 20, and pistol-whipped a woman at Crown Hill Cemetery in Wheat Ridge as they gathered to celebrate the birthday of a mutual friend, who also died from gun violence. authorities told Fox31.
“These people all knew each other. They were visiting the grave of a friend whose birthday had just come up,” Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Jackie Kelly told the outlet.
Authorities say Chavez got into an argument with the woman, whose name has not been released, on Saturday, August 17, just before 11 p.m. after the cemetery had closed for the night.
The fight reportedly began when Chavez told the group he was starting to feel unwell. According to an affidavit obtained by Law & Crime.
According to the affidavit, Trujillo Falcón told Chavez to go out into the street if he wanted to vomit, but Chavez refused and “attempted to vomit into the grave next to him.”
Police said as the fight escalated, Trujillo-Falcon struck the woman in the head with the butt of a gun before shooting Chavez, who later died at a hospital from his injuries.
A woman involved in the incident was injured but was treated and released from the hospital, authorities said.
“This is the first time in my career that I’ve been deployed to a graveyard of someone who’s been killed in a shooting,” Kelly said. “Cemeteries are places to comfort people. They’re often places to visit with people who have died, but they’re not typically places of violence, so this is very unusual.”
Chavez’s brother said in a GoFundMe fundraiser that his life was taken by “someone he called a friend.”
“Geno was the very definition of a true friend,” his brother wrote.
“He was the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back without asking,” the post read. “Ziano was an exceptionally talented artist with a passion for music. You’ll always find Ziano playing on the basketball court or watching a football game. As a recent graduate, he was definitely a bright prospect.”
Trujillo-Falcon allegedly told police he did not have a legal firearms license but had possessed a firearm since a friend he was visiting at a grave was shot to death two years ago.
Trujillo-Falcon has been charged with first-degree murder and second-degree assault and is being held in the Jefferson County Jail on $1 million bail.
