TEEN INSISTS ROBBERY WAS JUST A JOKE

A 19-year-old Denver high school student charged with several felonies in an alleged attempted robbery told arresting officers he was just joking around, according to court documents.

Elhadji Samba Dioum faces accusations including menacing and theft in the Dec. 3 case that prompted a lockdown of East High School and prompted a massive police response.

Authorities say Dioum showed a BB gun to a fellow student in the school’s parking lot and demanded money before fleeing.

“I need $10,” the student said Dioum told him, according to an arrest affidavit. “If you try to leave, I will shoot you.”

The student told investigators he summoned his peers to the area, at which point Dioum said he was just kidding and that it was a joke. Dioum then fled, the affidavit says.

“It was just a joke. The gun was just a toy,” Dioum told arresting officers, the affidavit says. “I didn’t even take the money.”

Dioum is being held at Denver’s downtown jail in lieu of bond, records show.

Prosecutors say a 17year-old boy, whose identity was not released, was charged Thursday as a juvenile on suspicion of bringing the BB gun to school. He was being held at the Gilliam Detention Center.

Suspects sought in Douglas County.

Eight schools in Douglas County were on lockdown Thursday as authorities searched for a possibly armed man and woman who fled a car wreck and assault.

The county sheriff ’s office said the crash happened near C-470 and Quebec Street.

“We don’t know why both would run,” Undersheriff Holly NicholsonKluth said. “We’re just taking every precaution.”

Nicholson-Kluth said a stolen vehicle might be involved. The Denver police helicopter assisted in the search.

Homes in the area of the crash were alerted to the search as a precaution.

Officials later said they had identified possible suspects but were not releasing names.

Body in barrel was that of man from Colorado

B bayard, neb.» Authorities have identified a man whose remains were found sealed inside a 55-gallon barrel in western Nebraska, and a suspect in the case has been arrested.

The remains are those of 33-year-old Pedro Adrian Dominguez of Greeley.

An investigator’s affidavit says Dominguez died of a gunshot wound to the back of the head. A farmer spotted the barrel floating along Red Willow Creek east of Bayard last Friday afternoon. He called the Morrill County Sheriff ’s Office after opening the barrel.

Zachary Mueller, of Bridgeport, has been charged in a warrant with first-degree murder and weapons counts in the case.

Mueller was arrested Saturday in Cheyenne, Wyo., on separate charges of auto theft and leading police there on a chase.