DENVER (KDVR) — A drive-by shooting in Northeast Denver killed a 62-year-old grandfather and injured three others. It’s now been over a year since the crime and there are still no cracks in the case. However, FOX31 is digging deeper and obtained new video of the vehicle involved.
Timothy Massangale died after a bullet struck him while he was leaving a birthday party last year. Shauna Pugh said her father was in the “wrong place at the wrong time.”
‘He wouldn’t know an enemy’
The holidays are normally a happy time for Pugh and her family.
“Every holiday, my dad was here with us,” Pugh shared.
But this year, he’s not. The loving father and grandfather was murdered in a drive-by shooting in 2021. It was a Saturday night, Oct. 9, when Massangale went to a family member’s birthday party, but never made it home.
“They said there was a shooting there and that he died there,” Pugh said in tears.
What was meant to be a celebration turned deadly. Massangale was leaving the home when a car drove by, and multiple shots were fired. It happened on Quebec Street and East 22nd Avenue.
Metro Denver Crime Stoppers released surveillance video showing the vehicle of interest driving in the neighborhood. Three other people were shot and survived, but Massangale died at the scene.
“He was a young, 62. He was fun-loving, kind and full of energy. He wouldn’t know an enemy,” Pugh said. “It’s such a cowardly move to shoot a gun in the dark and not know who you’re going to get, and you get someone like my dad, who wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
Victim was not the intended target
Denver Police confirm Massangale was not the intended target, but Pugh believes someone at the party was.
“Someone at that party knows something,” Pugh said. “They know why, they know who.”
Massangale was a state employee for decades, working for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and contract work for the Colorado Department of Transportation. Pugh said her father loved to travel and they had plans that unfortunately never got to be fulfilled. She added that she’s an only child and she and her father had an unbreakable bond.
Massangale was the definition of a family man, who loved his grandchildren wholeheartedly. Pugh said she’s been living in denial since the crime.
“I guess I don’t accept it yet,” Pugh cried.
For now, she’s holding tight to memories during this holiday season with hopes of the best gift this year: justice.
“If someone knows something or the person that did it is out there, please come forward,” Pugh said.
Our partners at Metro Denver Crime Stopper have just increased the reward to $20,000 for information leading to an arrest. If you know anything, call 720-913-STOP.