The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office identified the victims of an attack that left four dead on Sunday as a spate of shootings cast a pall over metro Denver in the last few days. 

A shooting in Denver on Monday left one dead and five more people hospitalized. In Lakewood, an apartment fire that police suspect as arson killed a mother and daughter also on Monday. Authorities launched a double homicide investigation in Denver on Sunday after a shooting left two dead. A woman was fatally shot in an attempted carjacking in Boulder County.

An Aurora crash on Saturday involving a stolen vehicle also left a dozen injured, including a 12-year-old, who ultimately died of her injuries.

1 killed, 4 hospitalized in east Denver shooting

The spate of crime worries Elizabeth Peetz, vice president of government affairs for the Colorado Association of Realtors.   

“When your parents are visiting you overnight in Denver and the first thing you do in the morning is check to see if their car was stolen, it affects your quality of life and feeling of safety,” she said.

“When you have to check to see if there is a package lockbox near you or your work will accept packages when you decide where to live pocketbook issues are affecting your housing decisions,” she added.

The victims of the shooting in Aurora, which took place at roughly 2 a.m. on Sunday, are 51-year-old Jesus Serrano, 22-year-old Maria Serrano, 20-year-old Kenneth Green Luque, and 49-year-old Rudolfo Perez, all Aurora residents, the coroner confirmed today. Their deaths are classified as homicides.

Aurora authorities, who are still looking for the suspect, 21-year-old Joseph Castorena, increased the award for anyone who can provide information leading to the suspect’s arrest, who remains at-large. He is described as having a slim build, 5 feet 4 inches tall, with a lion tattoo covering the left side of his neck. Police consider Castorena armed and dangerous and have asked anyone who sees him to call 911.

Police still searching for man accused of killing 4 in Aurora

Police believe he shot and killed four people at the home of his former partner after a series of domestic violence incidents. His partner and two young children who were in the home at the time of the rampage survived unharmed.

Authorities asked anyone with information about the case to call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. The Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $10,000, and the Aurora Reward Fund is contributing another $5,000, according to the police department.

Court records obtained by The Denver Gazette show the family – his former partner; her father, Jesus; and her sister, Maria – received restraining orders against Castorena days before the shooting. Jesus wrote in his petition that Castorena had previously threatened to kill him. Maria wrote that the family had endured numerous incidents with Castorena over the course of three years.

Both wrote that the most recent incident before they were killed came on Oct. 22, when his partner did not come home as expected. When she returned the next day, she told her family Castorena had waited for her after work, broken her car window, threatened her with a gun and forced her to stay with him that night, Jesus and Maria wrote. Additional court records show Castorena had been the subject of a child abuse investigation, which included additional allegations of domestic abuse.

The east Denver shooting that left one dead and five others injured occurred near the 1400 block of Verbena, near Colfax Avenue. As of 3 p.m., Denver police had not arrested anyone in connection with the crime and were working to identify a suspect, the department said on social media.

In Lakewood, law enforcement are looking for two juvenile suspects, who have not been identified because of their age, after an apartment fire killed a mother and her 10-year-old child early Monday morning. Investigators suspect the fire was intentionally set.

Additional victims of recent Denver metro area homicides were identified today, as well.

Friend of murdered Boulder County carjacking victim: “This auto theft has to stop”

On Sunday, Denver police heard shots fired near 9825 East Girard Avenue. They arrived to find Deandre Lewis, 23, suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Another shooting victim in the incident, Raeshaud Jackson, 24, was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. The Denver Metro Crime Stoppers offered a reward of up to $2,000 for anyone with information regarding the homicides.

The coroner’s officer is still investigating the cause and manner of death for three people who died near the 4500 block of Kittredge Street in Denver on Sunday, although police said it may be overdose related.

A 21-year-old woman who was shot and killed on Sunday in Boulder County during what law enforcement believe was an attempted carjacking has been identified as Taylor Smith by the Boulder County Coroner’s Office.

A 12-year-old girl died after a crash in Aurora injured her and 11 more on Saturday. All but two of the people injured were children. Police said the crash unfolded after a stolen vehicle driven at high-speeds by a 15-year-old hit another vehicle.

And, on Friday, Aurora police arrested a 42-year-old man from Iowa for allegedly shooting and killing a woman in a parking lot along South Parker Road.

Mitch Morrissey, who served as District Attorney for the Denver-based 2nd Judicial District from 2005 to 2017, said he had hoped for a quieter 2022 following a spike in crime in 2021, notably homicides.

Morrissey said it is unusual to have multiple victims in a shooting.

“When you got four people killed in one incident … It is disturbing,” he said, referring to the shooting in Aurora that killed four people.

“I just hope that this week is the end of it,” he said.