Suspect in Palmer Park shooting arrested, victim identified

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – Detectives with Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) arrested a suspect involved in the death of a 20-year-old man. 

On Sunday, May 7, at 1:34 a.m., officers with CSPD were in the area of the 2700 Block of Palmer Park when they heard multiple gunshots being fired from the parking lot. 

Officers described a dark-colored sedan leaving the area and a pursuit was initiated but later stopped. 

When officers returned to the scene, they found one man dead and a woman suffering from gunshot wounds. The woman was transported to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. 

That same night around 2 a.m., CSPD reported another man walked into a hospital seeking treatment for non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. That’s when detectives with the Violent Crimes Homicide Unit took over the investigation. 

Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for 21-year-old Donnell Chess for the homicide of the victim that same day.

Monday, May 8, the El Paso County Coroner's Office completed an autopsy of the victim and identified him as Ja’Lyn Tyre Lagrue, 20, a resident of Colorado Springs.

The official cause and manner of Lagrue’s death is being determined by the Coroner's Office but it is now being investigated as a homicide. 

Detectives with the Violent Offender Fugitive Task Force (VOFTF) arrested Donnell Chess without incident on the same day.