Shooting suspect in custody in Glenwood
Glenwood Springs Post Independent
GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Fredy Argueta Cabrera, of Carbondale, accused of first-degree murder in the death of one of his employees and the wounding of a young woman reported to be Cabrera’s stepdaughter during a shooting Wednesday night, was brought back to Garfield County on Friday after turning himself in to Mesa County authorities Thursday.
Cabrera, 39, is in custody in the Garfield County Jail without bond and without any formal charges, awaiting his first hearing before District Judge Denise Lynch on Aug. 5 in the Garfield County Courthouse.
It will be up to the judge to set bond in the case, said the sheriff’s public information officer, Walt Stowe, once formal charges have been filed and Cabrera has been advised of the charges against him and his rights under the law.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit Garfield County Sheriff’s Investigator Joe LeMoine filed, multiple 911 calls reported the shooting to the emergency-dispatch center around 11:11 p.m. Wednesday.
As deputies arrived at the scene, at 1573 County Road 154 (Old State Highway 82), they saw a man, later identified as Douglas Menjivar, lying on the ground near a retaining wall with blood on his shirt. Menjivar, according to the affidavit, was rolling around and apparently talking, but the nearest deputy could not hear what Menjivar was saying.
Nearby deputies found a young woman, later identified as Leydy Trejo, also lying on the ground while an unidentified woman was holding a towel to Trejo’s right leg. According to the affidavit, several bystanders said the suspect in the shooting, Cabrera, had left the area before authorities arrived.
According to the affidavit, Trejo told a deputy that her “father,” Cabrera, “had shot her and Douglas” and that Cabrera “did not like that she was dating Douglas, and that is why she believed that he had shot them.”
Trejo also told deputies that she was concerned that Cabrera might harm Trejo’s mother and sisters, who lived with Cabrera at a home in the Blue Lake subdivision near El Jebel.
During a survey of the crime scene, LeMoine discovered a revolver lying on a shelf of a barbecue grill. He wrote that the gun appeared to have been fired recently.
LeMoine then interviewed Misael Martinez-Rivas, who lives in the complex and said he was inside his apartment when the shootings took place. He said both Menjivar and Trejo lived in the apartment with him and that the shooting suspect, Cabrera, was his boss.
LeMoine asked Martinez-Rivas if he had any idea why Cabrera might shoot Menjivar and Trejo, and according to the affidavit, Martinez-Rivas replied that “Fredy did not like that Leydy was with Douglas due to Fredy wanting to be in a relationship with Leydy.”
According to the affidavit, both Martinez-Rivas and Noe Menjivar, another resident in the same apartment, later identified Cabrera as the shooter when LeMoine showed them a photo of Cabrera that had been emailed to LeMoine’s cellphone.
LeMoine stated in his affidavit that deputies learned at 4:30 p.m. Thursday that Cabrera had turned himself in to the Mesa County’s Sheriff’s Office while a manhunt was under way.
An arrest warrant for Cabrera, signed by Lynch, described the initial charges Cabrera faces as first-degree murder, first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and prohibited use of a weapon.
