Shock, sadness over loss of life

The Denver Post

When 6-year-old Lilly Diaz heard that a boy had been killed in Westminster, she wanted to bring flowers to the scene of the shooting.

Diaz and her grandfather Brandy Navarette walked to the Cedarwood Square Office Complex parking lot, where they prayed over a bouquet of pink flowers and a pink rosary they left on the ground.

The little girl didn’t know the details of the shooting that killed one boy, left his mother and brother in critical condition and injured another man. She didn’t know the shooting started from an alleged road rage incident. She didn’t know Jeremy Webster had been booked into Adams County jail for investigation of firstdegree murder.

“I wanted to bring flowers to the boy who died,” she said.

Navarette said he lived down the block from the scene and was shocked to hear the news.

“It’s very sad,” Navarette said. “She saw it on the news and wanted to come out and bring these things.”

The office park at West 80th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard was quiet and calm Friday, with bunnies hopping around the grassy areas leading up to businesses and a whimsical castle tower that advertises a children’s dentist office. Less than a day before, the area was cordoned off with police tape as investigators and evidence markers swarmed the scene.

Loretta Hocking, owner of Miracle Touch Massage in Cedarwood Square, witnessed the shooting’s aftermath Thursday. Hocking said she was getting ready to do a massage when she heard gunshots and screaming. She called 911, then ran out to check on the children who had been shot, she said.

“It hit me hard last night when I found out the boy died,” Hocking said.

On Friday, Hocking came to check on the two massage therapists who were working.

“I need to make sure my staff is OK after this,” she said.

Children’s Dentistry wrote a statement on Facebook thanking the community and first responders for their support after the shooting outside their offices.

“We ask that you keep the victims in your thoughts and prayers,” the statement read.

The office is closed until Monday.

Friday morning, families came to pick up cars they had abandoned in the parking lot in the wake of the tragedy. Some brought flowers they left outside the parking lot, but others just wanted to leave quickly.

The names of the victims have not been released, and an update on the their conditions wasn’t provided as of Friday afternoon.

Navarette and Diaz walked hand in hand away from the parking lot after they finished praying.

“Why did he have to die?” Diaz asked.