Suspect faces charges in alleged road rage shooting outside Rangeview High School
The man who shot a gun in a road rage dispute outside Rangeview High School Tuesday has a history of violent road rage encounters, as alleged in arrest documents.
35-year-old Luis Melendez is currently in custody at the Aurora Detention Center. He's charged with first-degree attempted murder, violation of a protection order, both possession and prohibited use of a weapon by a previous offender.
"My first thought was, 'Oh my God, we're gonna get shot,'" said Maryam, a Rangeview High School student. "I was really scared...like I was shaking."
Rangeview High School students are still shaken up by a secure perimeter that was called just minutes before the end of the school day Tuesday.
"All I heard was like this loud bang for some reason," said Nazan, a Rangeview student. "I heard this loud noise, and I thought someone fell. So I didn't think much of it until we got like to secure perimeter, and then one of my teachers told me that he saw like in the parking lot two people like arguing."
About 15 minutes later, students were let go.
"I went to my mom's car and she told me the whole incident," said Rangeview student Matias Barela.
Aurora Police say two men who were at Rangeview to pick up students got into a fight over a road rage incident. That fight escalated when one of the men took out a gun and fired it.
No one was hurt.
"That's a very far extreme," Rangeview student Aaron Gailey said.
"I've heard from a lot of people that this is the best school in APS, so I wouldn't expect that from a school like this," said Matias.
Aurora Police used Flock license plate readers and drones to find the suspect after he sped away. They arrested 35-year-old Luis Melendez.
Melendez is already facing charges in another road rage case.
An affidavit says on Sept. 28, he waved a gun and threw up gang signs at a pregnant woman and her boyfriend after being frustrated they slowed for traffic.
At the time of that incident, Melendez was on probation for menacing and burglary and had three protection orders against him, all prohibiting him from having a gun.
"Gun on school grounds ... even if someone was walking by that could have been like their life," said Aaron.
At school the next day, students are still shocked by what happened.
"There was like a whole bunch of like rumors and stuff," said Aaron.
"I heard a lot of people making jokes about it. I just want to say, like, a lot of people like lose their family members to stuff like this. I don't think it's like funny to be making jokes about that," Matias said.
Melendez is being held on a $25,000 bond. He's due in court Thursday morning.
