AURORA, Colo. — The lead guitarist for a local band said he and his band mates are lucky to be alive after a brief encounter at a stoplight ended with gunshots.
Aurora police are still investigating the shooting, which happened near the intersection of East Sixth Avenue and Chambers Road just before 1 a.m. Thursday.
Hours earlier, members of the band Dead for Denver were excited about playing a show at the Marquis Theater in Denver.
“It was a great night,” lead guitarist Jason LeBaron said. “We’re like, ‘Let’s load up our gear and go home.'”
After making a quick stop at an Aurora liquor store, LeBaron and his passengers noticed a black sedan following them to the stoplight at Sixth and Chambers.
LeBaron said the driver cranked his stereo at the stoplight, so he asked him to turn it down because his girlfriend was on the phone in the passenger seat.
“She was trying to talk to the babysitter for my kids and I was just like, ‘Hey, can you turn down the stereo?’” LeBaron said. “He just yelled something that I really couldn’t understand, so all I said was, ‘I can’t hear you.'”
LeBaron said he thought the conversation was over when the light turned green.
“I’m turning the corner and he turns the stereo down real low, and he just leans over really far in the car and he (says), ‘Do you have a mother f-ing problem?’” LeBaron said. “I was just like, ‘What?’ Then he unloaded five rounds into my truck.”
One of those rounds went through the door of the truck and into LeBaron’s left leg.
“The bullet is still in my leg right over here. It’s like a big, giant protruding thing but you can feel it in my leg,” LeBaron said. “So basically it’s just a hole all the way through my leg the size of that hole (in the truck).”
“I thought for sure he killed my best friend,” said fellow band member Matt McElwain.
McElwain and the other passengers weren’t hurt, something they credited the truck for.
“If we were in my car we would have been eye level with this guy,” McElwain said. “I would have seen blood splattered on the window.”
LeBaron said he’s still in shock that a conversation of music could have been deadly.
“I’m shocked that anyone would do that,” LeBaron said. “I feel like in our evolution of humanity that shooting people over saying, ‘Can you turn down your stereo?’ is a little crazy.”
Aurora police will not release any information on the investigation or a suspect description until a detective is assigned to the case.
The band has set up a GoFundMe.com page for LeBaron because he faces steep medical bills and doesn’t have health insurance.
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