Last December, we told you about the arrest of Gregory Kilcollins for shooting up a Wheat Ridge apartment complex and seriously injuring a man in the process.
Turns out, though, that the only crime for which Kilcollins was guilty was possessing a weapon as a previous offender.
Prosecutors now believe the perpetrator of the violence was actually David Waddell, who has now been taken into custody, but only after a wild police chase that ended when one tire on the stolen Caddy he was driving flew off.
These details and more can be found in a series of police reports on view below. They help make sense of a confusing situation.
First, let's flash back to December 10, 2014, when, according to the Wheat Ridge Police Department, officers responded to the Villa Victoria Apartments at 11250 West 38th Avenue after shots-fired report.
At one of the units there, officers spoke with a woman identified as Shantell Rangel, who said she and Kilcollins had gone to the location to meet with a man named Eugene Vigil. Kilcollins and Vigil "do not get along," the report states — and Rangel suggested that she was the reason. She told investigators that she started dating Kilcollins when Vigil went to jail. But upon Vigil's release, she told Kilcollins she was going back to him.
Next, Rangel said, she heard gunshots, and when she looked outside, she saw Kilcollins holding a gun. Moments later, Vigil called Rangel and told her he'd been shot. He wasn't certain who'd pulled the trigger, but the only one he thought would want to do so was Kilcollins.
A week later, on December 17, Kilcollins was arrested on suspicion of attempted second-degree murder. But rather than clamming up, he started talking, weaving a tale that involved another woman, Vanessa Chavarin, nicknamed Queenie. Moreover, he said Vigil had pointed a weapon at him first and he'd shot in self-defense.
Text messages between Rangell and Vigil backed up these contentions. Detectives accused the pair of conspiring to rob Kilcollins.
How does Waddell connect to the drama? On December 27, Metro Denver Crime Stoppers received a tip that he'd tried to sell a pistol that he allegedly said he'd found on the grounds of the apartment complex where he lives — the Villa Victoria, where the shooting had taken place. Moreover, a domestic violence report naming Waddell had been filed by Chavarin, aka Queenie.
Then, after she was arrested in April,, Rangel told investigators that Waddell, to whom she referred as both "Crazy Dave" and "Blunt," had also been targeting Kilcollins — and it had been him who'd started the shooting. Moreover, she noted that she was terrified of Waddell, who had racked up a pile of charges for crimes such as third-degree assault and possession of a weapon by a previous offender.
On June 9, the Wheat Ridge Police Department formally requested a warrant for Waddell's arrest, and just shy of two weeks later, on June 21, officers spotted him behind the wheel of a stolen 2011 Cadillac.
As Waddell headed west on Highway 36 near Sheridan Boulevard in Westminster, stop sticks were deployed — but they didn't halt Waddell, who blitzed away after striking them with a Westminster police officer hot on his tail. Speeds are said to have reached 115 miles per hour before the Caddy's right front tire fell off and Waddell was taken into custody.
Afterward, cops searched the vehicle and found a bag that appeared to contain meth, as well as a slew of stolen credit cards and some "jiggle keys," which had been shaved down in a manner associated with car theft.
Waddell is now being held on what the First Judicial District DA's office refers to as "at least six felony cases and one misdemeanor domestic violence case, with felony bonds ranging from $150,000 in the attempted murder case to $10,000 in the vehicular eluding and aggravated motor vehicle theft allegations" arising from his arrest on the 21st.
He's due in court on Friday, June 26, at which point prosecutors will be required to explain the circumstances that led to him being behind bars again. It won't be easy.
Kilcollins, meanwhile, will reportedly be sentenced on the weapons-possession beef next Monday, June 29. But it could've been a lot worse.
Look below to see another Waddell booking photo, followed by the aforementioned affidavits.
David Waddell Release and Affidavits
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