Man also accused in 2015 incident

The man who allegedly shot two teen boys — one of them fatally — as the pair apparently were trying to steal marijuana plants from his backyard in northeast Denver has been formally charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors say the Oct. 9 incident on the 2800 block of High Street marked the second time Keith Hammock, 48, had shot a boy. He is also now accused of wounding a 17-year-old in September 2015 under “similar circumstances,” according to authorities.

Between the two cases, Hammock also faces four counts of attempted murder, one count of manufacturing marijuana and one count of cultivation of marijuana.

“The victim of the 2015 shooting had not reported it (until recently),” Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Denver District Attorney’s Office, said Thursday. “Police, while they were investigating the shooting that occurred on the ninth, learned that there was a victim likely from September 2015. They just learned of the 2015 shooting within the last week.”

In the Oct. 9 case, police say Hammock fired at a 15year-old boy and 14-yearold boy who had jumped over a fence and into his backyard. The older boy was killed and the other possibly paralyzed.

Hammock allegedly shot the teens with a .22-caliber rifle from a second-story window at his home at 2830 High St. at about 2 a.m., according to an arrest affidavit. The Denver Medical Examiner’s Office identified the dead teen as Keylin Mosley.

During a police interview, Hammock said a motiondetector light came on in his backyard, the affidavit says. Someone had jumped over his fence. He looked out his window and saw movement or wrestling, the affidavit says. He said he went outside and found two kids on the ground near the compost heap.

Police received a call from the surviving boy who told a dispatcher he had been shot and was dying and that his friend was dead, according to the affidavit. While the boy was still on the phone with the dispatcher, the voice of a second person approaching the boy could be heard.

Hammock remains in custody and is being held without bail. His next court date has not been set.