Man, woman slain in a hail of bullets

Conchita Quintanilla and her family had just settled in to watch television late Friday night when the shots rang out.

Her son, Frankie, told his mother to get down, then ran outside to where two people lay near Monterey Road and Carmel Drive, including a young woman near death.

"She was gasping for air," Frankie Quintanilla said.

The Quintanillas were among the neighbors in southeast Colorado Springs who witnessed the aftermath of a double slaying - marking the city's 10 and 11th homicides of the year, and the seventh fatal shooting since March 1.

The El Paso County Coroner's Office completed autopsies on the two victims Saturday. Both died of multiple gunshot wounds. Both deaths have been ruled homicides.

The female victim was identified as 18-year-old Amairany Cervantes of Colorado Springs. She was pronounced dead at Memorial Hospital, police said.

The identity of the second victim, a man about 20, was not released, pending notification of relatives. He died at the scene, police said.

No arrests have been made, police said.

Blood, flowers and a yard sale sign marked where the two were gunned down at the intersection's northwest corner.

Carlos Baeza and Veronica Gonzales heard the gunshots from their nearby apartment on Carmel Drive.

"We came over here, and we saw them laying here," Gonzales said.

Saturday morning, they returned with a bouquet of white carnations.

"We came to pay our respects," Baeza said.

Frankie Quintanilla, 30, said he thinks the pair had just gotten out of a gray pickup before the shooting. The man lay dead on the sidewalk and the woman was near the curb. He said a second, unharmed woman stood near the pair.

"The girl was in the truck when it happened," he said. "Then she got out and started screaming, ‘My boyfriend's dead!'"

Several neighbors said the gunshots came in two quick bursts - some estimating three or four shots at a time.

"I heard something go pop, pop, pop, and I jumped up and ran to the door," said Teresa Jaquez.

She ran to the door and saw a large black sport utility vehicle - possibly a Chevrolet Suburban - speed down Monterey Road.

Gazette staff writers Lance Benzel and Andrea Brown contributed to this report.

HARD TO SPOT TRENDS, POLICE SAY

Homicides rose from 17 in 2006 to 28 last year, tying a record set in 1991, according to an annual police report released in April.

Police say homicides tend to fluctuate from year to year, making it difficult to spot meaningful trends.

"They're kind of all over the board," said Colorado Springs police spokesman Lt. Skip Arms. "If you look back over the last 10 years, they're averaging about 18 to 20 homicides a year."

Rapes rose to 285 compared with 256 in 2006, and fewer were solved - about 30 percent, a drop of 15 percent from a year earlier.

Police tallied an overall drop of 8.8 percent in most categories of crime - including a 13 percent drop in robberies, a 10 percent drop in aggravated assaults, a 17 percent drop in vehicle thefts and singledigit reductions in thefts and burglaries.

"The bottom line is that overall we saw a drop in crime," Arms said.
THE GAZETTE