Teen arrested in shooting death of Colorado man

By Colleen Slevin

DENVER (AP) — A 15-year-old girl has been arrested in the shooting death of a Colorado man whose body was found after he had not been heard from for several days, police said Wednesday.

Officers sent to check on Joseph Johnston on Tuesday found his body at his home in Brighton, about 22 miles (35 kilometers) northeast of Denver, police said. The girl was identified as a suspect and arrested later in the day for investigation of murder as well as stealing Johnson’s vehicle, police said.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in Denver announced Wednesday that they have charged a 15-year-old boy with attempted murder for allegedly shooting at a police officer and will ask a judge to allow him to be prosecuted as an adult.

According to court documents, two police officers were investigating after a Spot Shotter detector reported 36 rounds being fired nearby on March 21. They ordered three males to stop, but one of them continued walking away and reached into the front pocket of his sweatshirt. The officer tried to squeeze the elbows of the teen together to keep him from reaching in, but he pulled out a gun and shot at the officer. The officer, who was not injured, was able to sweep the teen’s legs and take him to the ground, it said.

According to the document, the teen had two Glock handguns, one of which had malfunctioned and had a spent casing inside. The other had a suspected sear switch. which can turn the gun into an automatic weapon, it said.

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On Monday, a girl was fatally shot by police in the Denver suburb of Lakewood after they say she was suspected of robbing a mail carrier at gunpoint with another girl.

A research letter by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus published on Monday said that nearly a third of middle and high school students in Colorado reported they could get access to a loaded gun without an adult’s permission. Of those who said they could get a gun, over 25% said they could access one with 24 hours and 12% said they could get one in under 10 minutes.