Brothers Damon and Blake Lucas mourned by family after Interstate 25 road rage shooting in Denver
"And I knew. I just knew, because I couldn't find them. I just knew it was them," said Amber Rivera as she recalled Tuesday night.
She had been looking for her sons for hours. They had driven her car to a job interview at a tire warehouse earlier in the day. Damon and Blake Lucas were together as usual.
"They were best friends. Did everything together. Damon has always been the big protector brother."
The two were headed north on Interstate 25 Tuesday when police say there was a confrontation with 25-year-old Stephen Long.
What happened before they stopped is not yet out, but police say both brothers got out of their car. The passenger got out first.
Rivera thinks it was her son Blake, who recently turned 21.
"I don't know why he got out of the car. It's not something I would think of him doing."
What is known is that the driver of the car he approached fired, killing him. Then Rivera believes, 22-year-old Damon got out to go after the driver who had shot his brother.
"The guy was trying to leave and Damon was trying to make sure that didn't happen."
That brother, police say, clung to the car as Long drove off. Soon, he too was shot, fell off and left in the road.
Long was followed by a police detective in an unmarked car and police arrested him soon afterwards without incident near 13th and Lowell Boulevard. Police say Long had no visible injuries and was uninjured.
"He took two people from me I can never get back," said Rivera about her loss.
Growing up in Colorado, life has been harder in recent years. In their crowded apartment in a neighborhood with police monitoring equipment in the parking lot, she lived with her mother, boys and two roommates. The cost of living and rising violence was worrisome. Now it has claimed two of her sons.
"I don't know what we're going to do yet. But I'm probably leaving Colorado."
Blake was already planning to leave. His uncle, Brandon Lucas, had invited him to move to South Carolina as he did.
"I've just seen how much worse and worse it's gotten," he said about life in Colorado.
"My mom and I were actually going to drive out to Denver next week to pick him up," said Lucas's wife Bree Lussier.
They left Denver after having trouble with the cost of living, changing attitudes and the level of violence.
"Denver got too busy, too angry. Everybody's out from themselves. you know, with how expensive and busy it is. They don't have time to take care of their neighbor," said Lucas.
Rivera works two jobs as a security guard. Damon and Blake had worked with her. To carry a weapon they'd had training, which Rivera believes is needed for those who have firearms.
"I think if you're going to own a gun you need to take classes for it... In class we're taught that pulling your weapon is a last resort. Pulling the trigger is final. There are so many steps in between."
If Blake had known the other driver had a weapon she believes he would have backed off.
"All the guy had to do was warn him. Just warn him. And it would have ended differently."
RELATED: Road rage in Colorado: "More people are willing to use violence"
