http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3708670

Article Launched: 04/14/2006 01:00:00 AM MDT


-Witnesses recount fatal night for cop
By Howard Pankratz
Denver Post Staff Writer

A woman was cradling slain Denver police Detective Donnie Young's head.

Detective Jack Bishop was standing nearby, wounded and pale.

"It was just very bad. It was a very bad scene," said Capt. Mike Calo. He had just arrived at the Salon Ocampo social hall, where Young and Bishop were working as security at a baptismal party, responding to Bishop's frantic call of "officer down."

"A lady was holding his head off the floor. I started to talk to him and told him he'd be OK," a shaken Calo testified Thursday. Then Calo noticed Bishop was in trouble, too.

"Focus on the balloons, don't think about Donnie," Calo said he told Bishop. "You've got to think positive thoughts."

Calo testified Thursday in the preliminary hearing for Raul Gomez-Garcia, who was ordered to stand trial on charges of murdering Young.

During the hearing, investigators testified that Gomez-Garcia called Young
a "racist" and swore at him about three hours before the shooting, which occurred at 1 a.m. on May 8.

Detective Martin Vigil, the lead investigator in the case, said the exchange occurred after Young refused to let Gomez-Garcia into an invitation-only baptismal party. Young and Bishop were in uniform, but working off-duty.

Witnesses said Young warned Gomez-Garcia that if he didn't leave, he'd call on-duty officers and have Gomez-Garcia arrested.

Then, Vigil said, witnesses said that Young grabbed Gomez-Garcia by the arm and throat and escorted the 20-year- old from the hall at 1733 W. Mississippi Ave.

Later, Young mentioned to Bishop that he'd had trouble with one of four men asked to leave and said, "I shouldn't have grabbed him by the neck like that."

Witnesses told investigators that Gomez-Garcia was so upset with Young that he vowed to go back to the hall and shoot Young.

During the hearing, prosecutors Bruce Levin and Tom Clinton presented evidence that Gomez-Garcia told three people he had shot the officers.

One of them was Leopoldo Rivas, who drove with Gomez- Garcia to an area near the hall, let Gomez-Garcia out of the car and waited.

Minutes later, Gomez-Garcia returned and Rivas asked him: "Did you do something stupid?"

According to Vigil, Gomez-Garcia replied that he had shot a cop.

Rivas' sister, Sandra, who was Gomez-Garcia's girlfriend, told investigators that after the shooting, Gomez-Garcia admitted to her he shot the officer but only meant to "scare" him.

The third alleged confession came in Mexico, where Gomez- Garcia was captured, authorities said.

Gomez-Garcia, Vigil said, told Mexican police he was just trying to scare the officers by shooting at their feet.

He also told Mexican authorities he had discarded the weapon in the desert as he drove to Las Vegas from Colorado, Vigil said.

After Thursday's testimony, District Judge Larry Naves ordered Gomez-Garcia to stand trial on charges of second-degree murder on Sept. 5. He also faces charges of attempted first-degree murder and two new counts of second-degree assault.

During the testimony, Calo, who was providing security at another function across the street, said he heard gunshots from the direction of the hall, then saw a gunman back out of the hall and level his gun at two men at the front entrance.

Calo sprinted across Mississippi and chased the gunman until he heard Bishop radio "officer down."

"It's like getting hit in the stomach," Calo testified.

Calo ended his chase and ran to the hall and found Bishop, who told him, "Donnie's down. Mike, it's bad."

"I grabbed Jack and said, 'Let's go' and 'Take me to him.' He (Bishop) looked like he had lost his best friend. It was horrific."

Just inside the doors leading to the building's main hall, Calo saw Young on the floor.

It was a memory, said Calo, that he doubted any of the dozens of children who were in the social hall would ever forget.

He said his eyes locked onto those of a "pretty little girl who was crying. She was horrified."

Defense attorney Fernando Freyre said during the hearing that police have the wrong man. Freyre said that a number of witnesses described the gunman as thinner than Gomez-Garcia and that there were "alternate suspects" who had not been thoroughly investigated.

Freyre also believed that some witnesses were intimidated, and cited Sandra Rivas.

Originally, Freyre said, she told police Gomez-Garcia wasn't involved in the shooting and she had never seen him with a gun.

It was only after her immigration status was brought up by detectives that she implicated Gomez-Garcia, the defense attorney said.

Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.