Advertisement

Authorities identify suspect, victims in Colorado shootings

Police investigate the scene of a suspected murder-suicide that left four people dead in a home near Longmont, Colo.
(Brennan Linsley / Associated Press)
Share via

Hours after getting out of jail on domestic violence charges, a Colorado man shot his way into a house and killed his ex-girlfriend, her sister and her sister’s husband, authorities said.

Then Daniel Sanchez took his own life, Weld County Sheriff John Cooke told reporters.

Sanchez, 31, and Beatriz Cintora-Silva, 25, broke up a couple of months ago, Cooke said. According to a 911 tape, Cooke said it appeared that Sanchez had suspected Cintora-Silva of cheating on him and that the shootings stemmed from jealousy and domestic violence.

Cintora-Silva had moved out of Sanchez’s house in Longmont, Colo., and had been staying nearby with her sister, Maria Cintora-Silva, 22, and her sister’s husband, Max Aguirre Ojeda, 32. All were killed in the early morning shooting.

Advertisement

Sanchez had been arrested over the weekend on suspicion of kidnapping and assaulting Beatriz Cintora-Silva, Sgt. Tim Schwartz said. He was released on bond from Boulder County jail about 10 p.m. Monday, a few hours before the shootings, authorities said.

“We are trying to piece together where he went from 10 o’clock till about 4:13 [a.m.] when we got the call [about the shootings] — so we don’t know those hours just yet,” Cooke said.

Cintora-Silva was warned before Sanchez’s release, Cooke said at the news conference. He said he thought she had been told that it was unsafe to stay at her sister’shome.

Advertisement

“It’s always good not to go where the suspect knows you are living,” Cooke said.

Deputies recovered a .45-caliber handgun next to Sanchez, who was found in the same bedroom as Beatriz Cintora-Silva, authorities said.

A SWAT team arrived at the house after a harrowing 911 call received at 4:13 a.m. A woman, whom Cooke identified as Beatriz Cintora-Silva, gave an address near the town of Longmont in unincorporated Weld County.

“Then the dispatcher hears the female caller say, ‘No, no, no,’” Schwartz told the Los Angeles Times.

Advertisement

The dispatcher heard gunshots, and a man picked up the phone.

“Basically what he told the dispatcher was that he shot three people and that he was going to shoot himself,” Cooke told reporters.

After a brief silence, the dispatcher heard another gunshot, he said.

ALSO:

‘Puppies for Rent’ business in Utah sparks criticism

L.A. girls pay tribute in visit, but Newtown is a day of hearses

‘No, no, no’: Harrowing 911 call, then 4 dead near Longmont, Colo.

Advertisement