Aurora police arrest Honduran national in connection with shooting on I-225
UPDATE: On Tuesday, Oct. 28, Aurora investigators worked with the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office to upgrade the charges to include first-degree murder after they learned the victim died from his injuries.
Aurora police arrested a Honduran national who they believe is responsible for the shooting of a driver on I-225 near 6th Avenue on Saturday morning at 1:14 a.m.
Officers first responded to a crash after a witness saw a car strike a barrier. When officers arrived, they discovered the driver was suffering from three gunshot wounds. Police now believe a suspect shot the victim while both were driving down I-225. The driver was taken to the hospital in critical condition and is now on life support, according to Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain.
The police department announced Friday that they have arrested a previously deported Honduran national, 38-year-old Celin Villeda Orellana, in connection with the shooting. APD took him into custody during a traffic stop near the intersection of 11th Avenue and Havana Street. Police say they found a gun and a shell casing in the car, and that is how Aurora police were able to hold the suspect in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, according to Chamberlain.
In a news conference on Friday, Aurora Police walked through how they connected the suspect to the victim. Acting Assistant Chief Mark Hilderbrant said with cameras in Aurora that read license plates, detectives were able to track the victim and suspect.
"In the initial onset, there was very little information. There was a witness who described a car fleeing, which ended up not being the suspect vehicle," said Mark Hildebrand, the chief of the Investigations Division. "But what our team did is they started working with our Real Time Information Center, using our Flock technology, through cameras and through license plate readers. And they were able to backtrack our victim's path throughout that night."
They say the cameras show the suspect followed the victim before the shooting.
"Somebody who was following our victim, somebody who was chasing our victim throughout the night, stalking our victim as he proceeded through his day without knowing somebody was chasing him throughout the city," Hilderbrant said.
Hilderbrant says that the suspect knew the victim through an unidentified woman and that she had a relationship with the two men. Chamberlain says the woman has been relocated because of fear for her safety.
"This suspect was making plans to flee, he was probably going to flee out of the country and escape justice in this case," Hilderbrant said during a news conference on Friday. He did not elaborate on the evidence police have that would suggest Celin Villeda Orellana was preparing to leave the country.
Aurora police said Orellana was previously deported in 2007, 2018, and 2020. Orellana was arrested in Denver in 2020 on charges of sexually assaulting a victim under the age of 15. Chamberlain says he was deported before going through the U.S. justice system.
Following his recent arrest, Immigration and Customs Enforcement took Orellana into custody. "He was in the country illegally at the time of this event," Chamberland said.
"This case is a clear example of why our partnership with Homeland Security Investigations and ICE is so critical. Without their cooperation, we would not have the ability to hold this dangerous individual accountable for his actions here in Aurora," said Chamberlain. "The criminal nexus between his immigration status and the violent crime he committed allowed us to take lawful action to ensure he remains in custody today. We will continue working alongside our federal partners and use every available resource to identify, arrest and hold accountable those who threaten the safety of our community."
Formal charges for the shooting will be filed by the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office.
