DENVER (KDVR) — The Problem Solvers received new arrest documents on Friday following the deadly crime spree that stretched from Aurora to Lakewood but was generally along Colfax Avenue last month.
Five men are facing charges that include murder, assault and robbery. Noah Loepp-Hall, Seth Lahrode, Aden Sides and Isaiah Freeman were arrested on Aug. 20. The fifth suspect, 18-year-old Samuel Fussell, was arrested on Aug. 25 in Greeley.
Crime spree
Police say the shooting was part of a much larger Denver metro crime spree that began on Aug. 15.
- Carjacking
- Aug. 15 at 4:15 a.m. 15296 E. Hampden Ave., Aurora
- Attempted auto theft/felony menacing
- Aug. 17 at 9:59 p.m. 2743 W. Alameda Ave., Denver
- Carjacking
- Aug. 17 at 10:51 p.m. at 5305 E. Colfax Ave., Denver
- Robbery/Aggravated Assault
- Aug. 17 at 11:08 p.m. at Lafayette Street and Colfax Avenue, Denver
- Homicide
- Aug. 17 at 11:36 p.m. at 1555 N. Stuart St., Denver
- Burglary/Auto Theft
- Aug. 18 at 12:27 p.m. at 1075 S. Union Street, Lakewood
Carjacking on Hampden
Police said a man who was in his parked car at 15296 E. Hampden Ave. in Aurora around 4:15 a.m. on Aug. 15 was hospitalized after being shot in the forearm and chest. The incident happened in a shared parking lot of Power House Gym and Dry Dock Brewing.
According to arrest reports, police reviewed surveillance video from the area. In the video, police observed a white sedan approach the victim’s vehicle. When it stopped, two suspects got out and pointed a gun at the victim. Next, a third suspect exited the sedan they arrived in.
Police said in the video, the suspects can be seen taking the victim’s phone and then throwing it on the ground. After that, muzzle flashes can be seen as the victim tries to run away.
Documents state that two suspects are then seen getting into the victim’s car, a blue Toyota Camry, while the third suspect leaves in the white sedan.
Felony menacing
Court documents also revealed that on Aug. 17 at 9:59 p.m. on 2743 W. Alameda Ave., reports came in of glass breaking at Del Norte Auto Sales. When officers arrived, they saw two men standing in the parking lot. The men said they heard glass breaking and went to see what was happening and scared off a group of five men who left in a dark sedan. The witnesses also said one of the suspects was holding a black handgun with an extended magazine.
One of the witnesses was able to see the license plate on the car the suspects left in and write it down in the dust on a car windshield next to where he was standing. The vehicle description and license plate matched the one that had been stolen on Aug. 15 in Aurora.
An employee at the business said there was nothing missing when he arrived after the 911 call.
Carjacking on Colfax
On Aug. 17 at 10:51 p.m. at 5305 E. Colfax Ave., a man called 911 to report that his car had been stolen at gunpoint. The victim stated that he went inside a Wing Stop to pick up food and left his vehicle running. When he came back out, a suspect was in his vehicle. The suspect then pulled out a black semiauto handgun covered in a black bandana and pointed it at the victim, according to arrest reports.
The victim stated that someone in a black Honda Civic shouted at him as he tried to back away. The suspects then left the scene, stealing the victim’s 2018 maroon Honda CRV, according to arrest documents.
Robbery/aggravated assault
On Aug. 17 at 11:05 p.m., police were called to a reported shooting near the intersection of Lafayette Street and Colfax Avenue. A witness reported hearing gunshots and seeing a maroon SUV leave the scene on E. Colfax at a high rate of speed.
A responding officer found a man lying on the ground with an apparent gunshot wound to the side of his torso. Paramedics were already on the scene and loaded the man into an ambulance.
During the ride, the victim told the officer that he was taking a walk near his home when four or five males ran up behind him demanding his keys and wallet. One of the suspects began pulling at the victims’ pants and eventually the victim was told to lay on the ground.
While on the ground, the victim said three of the suspects began kicking him in the head. When he tried to stand up he was shot.
The victim wasn’t able to describe the suspects in detail but said they were men in their 20s or 30s. He said in addition to the suspect who shot him with a handgun one of the other attackers was carrying a handgun.
A witness who said he heard the gunshots yelled at the suspects that police were on the way. He said one of them, a man in a red hoodie, pointed a handgun at him. The witness said the suspects then left in a red sedan and a brown SUV.
Shooting at Yeshiva Toras Chaim
About 20 minutes later, at 11:36 p.m., a 911 caller reported shots fired about at 1555 Stuart St., the address of Yeshiva Toras Chaim.
Denver police responded and found 18-year-old Shmuel Silverberg, a student of the school, suffering from several gunshot wounds. He was rushed to Denver Health, where he was pronounced dead.
Just after midnight on Aug. 18, DPD homicide investigators reported to the school and were able to locate surveillance video.
According to arrest documents, the detective watching the video saw two vehicles: a maroon SUV and a dark sedan. Both vehicles were occupied by at least two people, who were likely men.
Next, the detective saw at least one of the occupants in the vehicles fire shots at Silverberg in front of the school and then both vehicles chased him as he “literally ran for his life around the back of the school where he was eventually shot.”
Arrest reports also revealed that at least two of the suspects were armed with handguns at the time Silverberg was shot.
Burglary/auto theft
The final theft of this multi-day crime spree occurred shortly after midnight on the morning of Aug. 18, just an hour after Silverberg was killed.
Police were called to South Union Boulevard in Lakewood where a caller reported three males inside Complete Auto Repair.
The caller, who was watching on a video feed and not physically at the building, said the men were all wearing face masks and hats.
When police arrived the suspects had left, but a glass door was shattered and three sets of keys were taken.
Surveillance video showed the suspects trying to get through a door leading into the garage bay at the business, but when they were unsuccessful, they went to the glass door that they smashed to get in.
One of the suspects was wearing a red hoodie, jeans and white shoes. Another was wearing a black Champion hoodie with black pants and black shoes. The third suspect had on a black baseball hat with white lettering, a black t-shirt, black pants and black shoes.
One suspect used a stolen set of keys to take a Toyota Rav4. A dark sedan that the suspects arrived in also left at the same time. The dark sedan was identified by its license plates as the same one stolen during the Aug. 15 armed carjacking in Aurora.
How police tracked the suspects
Denver police tracked the five suspects through their cell phones.
Investigators discovered that two numbers had been at both the East Colfax location when the carjacking occurred and the Stuart Street location when Silverberg was shot.
One of those numbers was traced to an address on South Umatilla Street in Denver, the home address for Noah Loepp, who was wanted on an escape warrant for cutting off his ankle monitor around 6 p.m. on Aug. 17.
Police put the home under surveillance and at 6:39 p.m. on Aug. 18, police saw two people exit the home carrying something and putting it in the trunk of a Toyota sedan that had arrived at the home just a short time earlier. Believing that at least one of these people was involved in the crime spree, SWAT moved in and arrested the two people, later identified as Isaiah Freeman and Seth LaRhode. Loepp was taken into custody inside the home.
During their investigation police learned that Freeman had recently escaped from the Lookout Mountain detention facility and was under investigation as a suspect in a crime in Englewood that was not included in the court paperwork released on Sept. 3.
All three people arrested at the Umatilla Street home were interviewed.
The second number that had been tied to the locations and times of the crimes was traced to an address on West Oxford Avenue in Sheridan. When police responded to that address, several people came out including Aden Sides, who, like Freeman, was wanted on an escape warrant from the Division of Youth Corrections. A handgun was also located during a search of this home.
Larhode, the only person taken into custody who didn’t have a warrant, admitted to his involvement in the crimes and described what happened in detail as well as what each of the other suspects were wearing. Larhode also referred to the fifth suspect as Bobby, and when shown a picture of Samuel Fussell ,said that was the person he was talking about.
Loepp, during an interview with police, said he’d been with Larhode and Freeman during the day on Aug. 17 but then spent the night with his girlfriend. He said a white Audi had been stolen but did not say anything else.