April 26 (UPI) — Police have arrested three suspects in connection with a rock-throwing spree that left one person dead in Denver, Colo.
Last Wednesday, 20-year-old Alexa Bartell died when a rock smashed through the window of her vehicle as she spoke to a friend on the phone while driving. Additionally, six other people, two of whom suffered minor injuries, were affected by the spree.
“Overnight, JSCO investigators arrested three 18-year-old males in connection with Alexa Bartell’s homicide that occurred during a rock-throwing spree in north [Jefferson] and south Boulder counties last [Wednesday] night,” the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office tweeted Wednesday.
The three suspects, Nicholas Karol-Chik, Zachary Kwak, and Joseph Koenig, are all residents of Arvada.
The sheriff’s department said the three teens “face charges of first-degree murder, extreme indifference,” and that “additional charges are expected.”
“The suspects went from place to place, throwing large rocks through the windshields of moving vehicles. We have not seen that before,” said Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Jacki Kelley.
According to Kelley, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department worked with multiple local police forces, including the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department, the Arvada Police and the Westminster Police to identify and locate the suspects using “mobile device forensics.”
“We are a safer community this morning because of it,” Kelley said of the arrests.
Before the arrests, the Metro Denver Crime Stoppers offered a $17,000 reward for information on the rock throwers.