"What up Blood" greeting at Colorado party prompted fatal shooting of 14-year-old boy, witnesses say

The last two of five defendants were sentenced on Wednesday for the murder of a 14-year-old boy, which started over a greeting between strangers at a house party.

Anthony Allen and Philix (pronounced "Felix") Baca were both ordered to serve 25 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.

Allen, the youngest of the five defendants, was 17 years old at the time of the shooting. He pleaded guilty in October 2025 to a murder charge and faced a possible life sentence.

Investigators determined a bullet from Allen's gun killed 14-year-old Francisco "Cisco" Laqui.

Laqui was hosting a house party at a vacation rental property at 1165 Garrison Street in Lakewood on April 13, 2024. According to a press release from the First Judicial District Attorney's Office in Jefferson County, five people in two vehicles arrived at the party just before 4 a.m. to pick up females who were attending it.

Allen and Baca were passengers in one of the vehicles, a Nissan Rogue driven by Cecellia Nace, then 19. 

Joaquin Bustillos, who was 21 at the time, was driving a white pickup truck with Martin Ramirez, also then 21, in the passenger seat.

Prosecutors said that the three passengers of the two vehicles got out and approached the house while Nace and Bustillos remained behind their steering wheels. Witnesses reported hearing someone say, "What's up, Blood," according to prosecutors.

That phrase originated decades ago as a greeting between members of the U.S. gang by that name, but more recently it has come to be used in popular culture. The phrase began to carry less gang meaning and is now often equated with "What's up, bro" or "What's up, dude."

That was not the case this night.

"Offense was taken," the DA's Office described in its press release, "and the situation quickly escalated into a chaotic confrontation."

Allen, Baca, and Ramirez returned to their vehicles and fired shots at the house as they left. Baca shot a .45 caliber revolver, per prosecutors, while Allen fired a .22 caliber handgun, and Ramirez fired a 9mm handgun.

Laqui was standing outside the house and was hit in the head by a .22 round, per prosecutors. He died six days later in the hospital after donating his organs. 

Investigators found shell casings from all three weapons over a block-and-a-half stretch of Garrison Street.

Investigators later determined that the rounds fired by Baca and Ramirez did not strike any homes or people. In fact, Ramirez asserted he was reflexively shooting into the air after hearing all the other gunshots, according to the DA's Office.

All the defendants but Baca were arrested in the days immediately following the shooting. Baca fled the area and was taken into custody by a U.S. Marshals task force in Colorado Springs more than a year later. 

"While Anthony Allen fired the fatal shot, I believe that Mr. Baca is actually more responsible," Deputy District Attorney Chris Johnson told the court during Baca's sentencing. "We have spoken a lot today and throughout this case about young men, peer pressure, and bad influences. When you look at everyone involved here, Mr. Baca was the bad influence. He fired the .45 caliber handgun five times and committed the same act that Anthony Allen did. He was either lucky or simply a bad shot."

The fatal shooting was not determined to be gang-related, though prosecutors did point out during Baca's sentencing that he is the son of Phil Baca Sr., the leader of the Few But Plenty gang, who was sentenced last year to prison on an organized crime charge. The Few But Plenty crew committed numerous drive-by shootings and sometimes injured people with no gang affiliation or who were mistaken for members of a rival gang. Tactics used in the Garrison Street drive-by mirrored the patterns used in some of the Few But Plenty drive-by shootings described in his father's indictment.

The other three defendants — Ramirez, Nace, and Bustillos — all pleaded guilty to accessory to crime charges and received five-year probation sentences at the same hearing in February.

Friends and family of Laqui stood and spoke about him at that February hearing. According to the DA's Office, they described Laqui as a talented boxer who made everyone laugh and had his whole life ahead of him. They explained the profound sense of loss his death has created, but also expressed their commitment to moving forward with forgiveness and a desire to see an end to the cycle of gun violence.

"On that fateful night, you made a bet with the devil, and the devil won," one family member said, according to the DA's Office.

Those three defendants had already served between six and 14 months in jail.

After Baca and Allen were sentenced last week, Senior Deputy District Attorney Jacob Mathews also encouraged area youth to weigh the consequences of potentially deadly behavior.

"This case simply should not have happened," Mathews said. "Young individuals soaked in a reckless gun culture on social media came face to face with the very real consequences of gun violence. Their senseless acts put a community in danger and led to the death of a young man. We are grateful for the dedicated work of the Lakewood Police Department and their commitment to seeking justice for the family of Francisco Laqui."