Chase Scheunert Charged With Attempted Murder In I-25 Road Rage Shooting
ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - A 22-year-old Westminster man remains jailed on an attempted murder charge following a collision between jockeying vehicles and shots fired from one vehicle into the other earlier this month.
Chase Scheunert was formally charged in Adams County Court on Wednesday. He is being held on $100,000 cash bond. He faces additional charges of assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a weapon by a previous juvenile offender.
A 62-year-old Brighton woman whose car he allegedly fired into has been advised by a doctor to leave the round where it lies embedded above her left shoulder blade.
According to case documents obtained by CBS4, the woman was driving a Toyota 4Runner northbound on Interstate 25 the night of March 10. She was following her daughters, driving in a separate car, home. She told Northglenn Police Department investigators that she witnessed a white BMW move aggressively between her Toyota and her daughters' car. That white BMW began to drive in close proximity to her daughters.
The BMW driver's behavior "pissed me off," she told investigators.
The daughter that was driving told investigators she recognized the white BMW and another red car "began to drive as if they wanted to race" but she did not respond.
Mom, however, did.
The woman told investigators she started tailing the white BMW, mimicking its lane changes, and flashing her lights at it in an attempt to get the driver to pull over and explain his actions. This started in the area of 88th Avenue.
As they neared 104th, the woman observed the other red car approach her 4Runner's passenger side closely. At that same time, the driver of the white BMW braked, and the 4Runner's left front corner collided with the BMW's right rear.
The crash was captured on the woman's dashcam.
Northglenn investigators who reviewed the video stated the woman started moving her vehicle toward the shoulder of the highway.
"After the impact, the white BMW ends up directly next to the driver's side of (the woman's) vehicle," the report reads. "Only three seconds of time passed between the vehicles impacting and the shots being fired, consistent with the shooter having the firearm in their hand prior to the impact. The shots are immediate."
The investigators believed a passenger in the BMW had ducked during the shooting and could be seen upright as the car drove away. Bullet damage was found on the passenger-side pillar.
Evidence showed the woman's vehicle was struck by gunfire three times, per the report.
First responders were called to the scene at 9:42 p.m. Northbound lanes of I-25 were closed as part of NPD's investigation.
The next morning, Thornton Police Department officers found a white 2021 BMW 330i abandoned in a residential neighborhood near Quebec and 120th Avenue. The doors were left open and the engine running. It had rear-end damage matching that suffered by the BMW in the woman's dashcam video, and the license plates matched, too.
Per investigators, Scheunert had reported the car stolen from his Westminster driveway a half hour before Thornton officers found it. The BMW was a loaner vehicle from a dealership, Ralph Schomp BMW in Littleton, that was repairing Scheunert's personal vehicle.
In the following days, Northglenn investigators obtained crucial evidence -- surveillance videos, one from the dealership, and another from a residence in the neighborhood where the BMW was abandoned.
The neighborhood video showed the BMW being abandoned (and its occupants picked up by a red Chevrolet Camaro). The BMW driver was illuminated by the car's interior lights as he exited.
The dealership video showed the man who took possession of the BMW earlier in the day.
Investigators stated the same person with the same neck tattoo and wearing the same clothing appeared in both.
Scheunert was arrested March 19. At the time of his arrest, he still had an active warrant for drug possession out of Arapahoe County and a weapons case in Denver scheduled to go to trial in June, per online records.
He is slated to return to court in the Northglenn case April 15. Investigators recommended the attempted murder charge because the gunshots came so close to Corcoran's head and vital organs.