LAKEWOOD, Colo. — A day after a harrowing crime spree that spanned from Lakewood to Sheridan Wednesday, Lakewood Police released the arrest affidavit of the only suspect who had been take into custody as of Thursday afternoon, revealing that the string of violence came to an end in part thanks to a car equipped with a breathalyzer device.
Miguel David Sanders Jr., 28, was charged with nine felony counts after his arrest, including attempted murder, kidnapping, assault and two counts of aggravated robbery — one for allegedly robbing a bank and one for a series of alleged carjackings.
Police indicated two other suspects — not three, as had once been suspected — involved in the same string of crimes remained at large Thursday. Sheridan 2 School District was closed Thursday because of the ongoing manhunt.
The series of events began at 10:40 a.m. Wednesday, with a First Bank robbery at the intersection of 1940 South Kipling Parkway in Lakewood. According to the affidavit, a Jeep backed into a parking spot in front of the bank, and three male suspects entered wearing “skeleton masks” and dark clothing, with their skin completely covered.
After harassing employees, the suspects made off with $50,822, according to the affidavit. They also ended up taking a set of GPS trackers, which were eventually found ditched on the side of the road near South Estes Street and Yale Avenue. Police received another report from a caller a short distance away from that intersection who said she saw a group of black males fleeing while changing clothes from an SUV that was stuck in a field near the 3200 block of South Vance Street.
A short time later, police responded to another report of shots fired about 500 yards away in the 6800 block of West Eldorado Place. According to an arrest affidavit, a homeowner in the area said he returned to his house after taking his dog to a dog park to find three black males in his garage, all of whom pointed handguns at him and demanded the keys to his minivan.
The victim said he gave the men his keys and then fled, at which point he was shot three times. He was later transported to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
The victim’s minivan was eventually found wrecked and abandoned near a skate park in the Sheridan Community Park, which is behind Sheridan High School. Around the same time it was discovered, police received reports of another shooting at the Sheridan Recreation Center, which is about 100 yards away from the skate park.
The victims in that shooting were two women, a 29-year-old and her 52-year-old mother. The daughter told police she was backing her car out of a parking spot in the recreation center so her mother could get in, when one of the suspects pulled her from the driver’s seat and punched her in the face.
When she punched the suspect in the back, the daughter said another suspect arrived, also striking her in the face. As she lost consciousness, she heard a gunshot, according to the affidavit, and was struck in the hand. The mother’s account of events was consistent with her daughter’s, according to the affidavit, but the mother added that she struck a third male suspect with her purse and was punched in the face by that individual.
According to the affidavit, the mother said the cash the suspects were carrying “went everywhere” as they fought with the women, and that the suspects were ultimately unable to start her daughter’s car because it was equipped with a breathalyzer device.
Doctors indicated the daughter will likely need to have her right pinky finger amputated as a result of her injuries, and the mother suffered a broken nose, according to the affidavit.
After the failed carjacking, police received a call that an armed suspect had been seen running near a barn that houses school buses in the same parking lot as the recreation center.
It was later revealed that this suspect had approached a bus driver leaving the barn at the end of her shift, according to the affidavit. The bus driver said the suspect opened his jacket, revealing two guns, and told her to get back in her bus and drive. She said no, fleeing the scene, and indicated the suspect fled into the barn in the direction of where she had parked the bus.
Officers later entered the barn and located a suspect hiding under a bus. He eventually surrendered, was placed under arrest and was later identified as Sanders.
As of Thursday afternoon, Sanders was being held on $1 million bond.
The suspects who remained at large Thursday were both described as black males, one heavy set and probably in his 20s, and the other also likely in his 20s with shoulder length braided hair that are possibly in corn rows.
Anyone who may have information that could help detectives in the investigation is asked to call the Lakewood Police Department, their local police or Metro Crime Stoppers.
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