17-year-old arrested in killing

Police arrested a 17-year-old boy Tuesday night in connection with a shooting in south Colorado Springs on Monday that led to the city's 14th homicide of the year, putting Colorado Springs on pace to match a record it tied in 2007.

The victim, 22-year-old Matthew Webb of Colorado Springs, was found in the driver's seat of a Honda that crashed near the 7-Eleven at 1802 S. Nevada Ave. - a half-mile from where police say he was likely shot, in the Copper Chase Apartments complex at 2041 Southgate Drive.

Police did not release any information on the teen suspected in the shooting.

Police responded to a call of shots fired at the complex at 11:09 p.m. Webb was found in the store parking lot about six minutes later when officers responded to a traffic accident report.

Webb, a 2004 graduate of Rampart High School in Colorado Springs, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. They did not say whether anyone else was in the vehicle.

"He was a good kid, he was goal-oriented," said Will Vinson, Webb's friend from high school. "He wanted what every human wants in life: happiness and to be able to live his life without idiots interrupting him."

An autopsy determined Webb died of a single gunshot wound.

Police did not release further details.

Residents throughout Copper Chase heard the gunshots, though many mistook them for firecrackers.

Josh Cowan, who lives on the southeast side of the complex, said he saw the first shot in what he said he thinks was an exchange of gunfire.

The 28-year-old Fort Carson soldier was taking a cigarette break on the landing outside his second-floor apartment when he saw a vehicle pull up beside two men standing in the parking lot, just 15 yards away.

He saw what looked like a muzzle flash from the passenger seat of the vehicle and took cover inside his apartment.

"I went inside after that and heard a bunch of other shots," he said. "The thing was, I was standing right outside the entire time and there was no commotion or no arguments going on. ... The car backed up, and when it backed up the guy in the car shot at the guys."

There was a pause after the first shot, he said, suggesting to him one of the men in the parking lot reached for a weapon and returned fire.

Webb's senior yearbook lists him as a member of the National Honor Society at Rampart High School. Vinson said Webb graduated with honors a semester early.

"This wasn't a dumb kid," Vinson said.

But he was a kid who got into trouble, Vinson said.

"I was hoping I would never hear this, but the fact that I have now is pretty crazy, but it isn't exactly surreal," he said.

Webb had recently started a second stint at Red, Hot & Blue, a barbeque restaurant on North Academy Boulevard, not far from Webb's apartment, Vinson said.

Webb's myspace.com page paints the picture of a computer buff with an affinity for guns and his family.

"Computers are me," he wrote on the page he last logged onto in August 2007. It lists him as attending Pikes Peak Community College for an associate degree in information technology. Vinson said Webb wasn't currently in school but "he did talk about getting his education."

On a myspace.com survey, he lists his weakness as "the past" and his fear as "the future." Pictures on the page show Webb with family members and posing at Garden of the Gods alongside photos of him holding guns wearing camouflage and of him flexing, shirtless.

Police are also investigating another shooting that left a man wounded.

Officers said that early Tuesday, the man showed up at Penrose Hospital with a gunshot wound. Police said his injuries were not life-threatening.

Officers said they're still working out how, when and where the man they did not identify got shot and if the incident is connected to the Copper Chase shooting.

Colorado Springs police recorded 28 homicides in 2007, tying a record set in 1991. Of this year's 14 killings within city limits, no arrests have been made in four - all of which happened in June.

UNSOLVED SLAYINGS

The city's four homicides without arrests in 2008:

• June 6: The apparent drive-by shooting of Amairany Cervantes, 18, and Cesar Ramirez Ibanez, 21 at the corner of Monterey Road and Carmel Drive in southeast Colorado Springs were the city's 10th and 11th homicides.

• June 15: 18-year-old Demetrius Binion died of a single gunshot wound to the chest at the Shannon Glen Apartments, 260 N. Murray Blvd.

• June 23: Keith Lewis, 32, died of gunshot wounds he suffered while inside One Sports Bar & Grill, 1840 N. Academy Blvd.