Teens charged with murder in Denver Downtown Aquarium drive-by shooting

Two teenagers were arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the drive-by shooting death of 19-year-old Dacien Salazar outside Denver’s Downtown Aquarium in February.

Antonio Vasquez, 19, and Jason Trujillo Jr., 17, were arrested May 1 and charged with first-degree murder, three counts of first-degree attempted murder and three sentence-enhancing counts for violent crime, according to court records.

Vasquez and Trujillo were identified as suspects through a months-long police investigation involving gang-related social media threats, surveillance video, ballistic reports and cellphone location data, according to a redacted arrest affidavit.

Salazar and two friends drove from Pueblo to Denver on Feb. 14 to visit the aquarium at 700 Water St.

As the group left the aquarium about 3 p.m., a black sedan pulled up, and a person in the back seat wearing a black mask started shooting at them, witnesses told police.

Salazar was struck multiple times and taken to Denver Health medical center, where he was pronounced dead. The two other people were not hurt in the shooting.

Friends of Salazar told police he “had a lot of people that were after him” and shared screenshots of gang members threatening him on Facebook, including threats from Trujillo, according to the affidavit.

Police redacted the name of the gang, the threats toward Salazar and details of a related shooting in Pueblo from the affidavit.

Investigators identified the car used in the drive-by shooting, a 2014 Chevy Malibu, and a temporary license plate through surveillance video in the area and connected it to Vasquez, who lives in Pueblo.