Third Trinidad Burglary Suspect Arrested
A third suspect in a Trinidad attempted home burglary has been arrested.
Mario Dean Chavez, 21, of Trinidad, turned himself in to the Trinidad Police Department on Tuesday.
Police say the burglary happened on the 600 block of Spruce Street around 2 a.m. Saturday morning. Investigators say the people in the home were asleep when they heard a knock at the front door and then heard the door being forced open.
Police say three to four men came in the home. A woman ran to the bathroom and hid. The homeowner ran into the bedroom, got a gun and confronted one of the men.
Police say the suspect yelled “he has a gun,” and the men began to flee. The homeowner then fired shots through the bedroom door at the fleeing men. When he thought they had left, he came out of the bedroom to investigate.
Officers say the homeowner noticed blood and saw Rory Rodriguez, 24, lying on the front lawn. Rodriguez was transported to Parkview Hospital in Pueblo with a gunshot wound to his head, officials said. He later died at the hospital. Rodriguez is from Denver, but had been living in Trinidad for about a year.
Police were initially searching for two other men, Alejandro Antonio Rodriguez, 21, and Mario Chavez, 21.
Alejandro Rodriguez was taken into custody by the Denver Police Department on Monday morning. He was contacted at a Denver Hospital while being treated for a gunshot wound to the abdomen. That gunshot wound does not appear to be related to the Trinidad burglary but to a separate incident in Denver.
Chavez was booked into the Las Animas County Jail on Tuesday.
He has been charged with first degree burglary, a class 2 felony; first degree trespassing, a class 5 felony; conspiracy, a class 6 felony; menacing, a class 3 misdemeanor; and attempted theft, a class 2 misdemeanor.
Chavez is being held on a $45,000 cash or surety bond.
The home invasion case is still under investigation by the Trinidad Police Department.
The district attorney will determine if the homeowner will face any charges. According to Colorado’s Make My Day Law, a homeowner can protect his home and family if an intruder comes in.
Police believe this could be gang related.
