DENVER — One man was killed and seven other people injured early Sunday morning when a driver plowed through a crowd gathered outside a Golden bar, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office.
Four men were taken to hospitals with serious injuries and three other people sustained minor injuries, according to the sheriff’s office. The victims, who include bar employees, have not been publicly identified.
The incident happened outside Rock Rest Lodge at 16005 Mt. Vernon Road in Golden at around 1:40 a.m. Investigators believe a fight broke out between “some of the victims,” the driver and another man before the driver steered a Chevy Silverado through a crowd gathered near the bar’s parking lot.
Two men have been arrested: the alleged driver, Ruben Marquez, 29, and the registered owner of the vehicle, Ernesto DeJesus Avila, 25, who was a passenger in the pickup truck during the incident, according to the sheriff’s office. A second passenger who was in the truck will not be charged.
Marquez is facing charges of first-degree murder, three counts of first-degree assault and two counts of second-degree assault. Avila is facing charges of accessory to first-degree murder, and six counts of accessory to first- and second-degree assault, according to the sheriff’s office.
Investigators aren’t yet sure whether the fight that preceded the vehicular attack was merely an argument or whether it turned into a physical fight, said Jenny Fulton, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office. But the initial altercation was broken up by bar bouncers, she said.
After Avila and Marquez were separated from the victims, investigators believe they got into Avila’s truck, which was parked in front of the building, and Marquez intentionally drove into a crowd that had gathered to the side of the building. The group was standing on Mt. Vernon Road near a “Parking” sign, Fulton said.
“He backed out of his parking spot and intentionally drove into the people who were there in the road,” she said.
Marquez kept driving after the attack, but a deputy who was responding to the scene spotted the truck nearby and stopped it with help from state troopers. Marquez and the two passengers were then taken into custody without incident.
Representatives for Rock Rest Lodge could not be immediately reached Sunday. The bar and grill posted on its Facebook page that it would be closed for the day.
Marquez is currently on parole, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections.
He has a lengthy criminal history in Colorado, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. He pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute in Adams County in 2019 and was sentenced to four years in prison. In the same case, he also pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a weapon, for which he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
He has also previously been convicted of carrying a concealed weapon, carrying a concealed knife and attempted escape, and has been convicted three times of motor vehicle theft, according to CBI and court records.
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