1 arrested for allegedly firing gun during I-225 protest

AURORA, Colo. (KKTV) - A 23-year-old man was arrested in his home Monday for allegedly firing a gun during a protest over the weekend, injuring two people.

Samuel Young was arrested hours after Aurora police posted a photo to social media calling on the public for help identifying the person pictured. Young was called a person of interest at the time but is now considered a suspect and faces four counts of attempted homicide.

According to police, demonstrators were marching on I-225 at 6:35 Saturday evening when a northbound Jeep plowed through the crowd.

“While the Jeep was being driven through the crowd, multiple shots were fired by a protester,” the Aurora Police Department said.

One person was shot and a second was grazed by a bullet.

“People were running after a car ‘aggressively’ made its way toward protestors on I-225. I heard pops, which APD say came from a protestor. That protestor shot other protestors,” said CBS Denver reporter Dillon Thomas, who was nearby. “I watched as a woman who fell off the interstate was rushed to the hospital.”

Both people are expected to recover.

Police are still asking anyone with pictures or videos that show the actions of the Jeep driver to call 720-913-7867. Police reportedly know who the driver of the Jeep is but have not arrested or charged that person at this time.

“I not only find great concern with someone making the decision to drive their vehicle toward protesters on the interstate but that someone in the protester group opened fire, recklessly shooting two people,” Interim Police Chief Vanessa Wilson said in a statement Sunday prior to Young’s arrest.

The march was for 23-year-old Elijah McClain, who died last summer during a run-in with Aurora police officers. Police said the majority of protesters were peaceful Saturday, but as night continued and the group made their way towards the Aurora Police Department headquarters, some in the crowd knocked down a fence to the entrance of the headquarters and began shooting fireworks at the building. Others reportedly began to throw objects and shine lasers at officers. The police department also reports protesters broke windows at the courthouse and went inside the building where they started a fire inside an office at the courthouse.

Protesters began to disperse after 10 p.m.

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