Two killed in shooting during fight east of city

Two people were killed Thursday in a shooting east of Colorado Springs that apparently started with a large fight near the Cimarron Eastridge Park off Constitution Avenue.

The victims are believed to be between 17 and 20 years old, said Lt. Lari Sevene, El Paso County sheriff's spokeswoman. Their names weren't released.

No one has been arrested.

The shooting happened in the unincorporated Cimarron Hills area about 4 p.m. on or near a service road between the park and Constitution Square Apartments.

The service road cuts through a vacant lot and has access to Constitution between Powers Boulevard and Marksheffel Road.

Deputies were called to a fight involving as many as 20 people. While they were on their way, the reporting party told authorities of hearing two gunshots. Neighbors said teenagers scattered after the shots rang out.

When deputies arrived, they found at least one person attempting CPR on one of the victims. Deputies took over the rescue efforts until medical crews arrived. One of the victims was pronounced dead at the scene.

The second was pronounced dead at 4:55 p.m. at Memorial Hospital.

People are asked to be on the lookout for two vehicles seen leaving the area. The first is a blue 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier with the license plate 293-SLF. The second is a green late-model four-door car.

Investigators said they aren't sure how many shooters were involved or what sparked the shooting.

Despite the large number of people involved, Sevene called it premature to assume the shooting is gang-related.

Dena Cannon was in her apartment near the park waiting for her 7-year-old son to come home from school when she said she heard a fight break out.

"It sounded like a soccer game," Cannon said. "There was a bunch of yelling and screaming and someone saying, ‘Go away.' Then, pop, pop."

Kim Holley, who lives in the same building, said she went outside and could "smell the shots from the gun."

"Next thing we know, we're seeing teenagers run in every direction," she said. The 10 to 15 people who fled wore "your average teenager clothes," she added - T-shirts, jeans and hooded sweatshirts.

If the deaths are ruled homicides, they will be the first two in unincorporated El Paso County this year. There were six homicides in the county in 2008, including a deputy-involved shooting death that was judged to be self-defense.

Both neighbors said the park is typically quiet, although Cannon said that children from the complex told her after the shooting that it has the reputation of being a gang hangout.

"I think the kids have more information than the adults," she said.

Cannon said she saw an ambulance speed from the scene almost immediately and another group of emergency medical technicians working on someone in the field.

"They were working on somebody for quite awhile," she said. "I couldn't actually see (the person) because the grass was so high."

Holley hugged a 5-year-old boy she was babysitting after recounting the experience. Last month, on Dec. 18, the child witnessed the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Victor San Miguel, his mother's boyfriend, at a home near Fort Carson.

Authorities charged the boy's aunt in the killing.

"And then to see this scene," said Holley's husband, Craig, who gestured to the field encircled by crime scene tape and lit up with emergency lights.

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Gazette writer Carlyn Ray Mitchell contributed to this report.