Suspect’s girlfriend tips off police in clerk’s killing
A man suspected in the shooting death of a Centennial store clerk on Thanksgiving Day has been identified.
His girlfriend tipped off investigators in the case.
Samuel Birch, 31, was arrested Friday as the suspect in the shooting at a Circle K, 8263 S. Quebec St., according to the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators released surveillance photos Dec. 9 of the robbery and homicide suspect, and that information generated tips, the sheriff’s office said.
Birch is suspected of shooting the clerk, Mauricio Omar Perez, 24, once in the stomach with a longbarreled revolver, according to an arrest affidavit.
Birch ordered a carton of cigarettes, pulled out the handgun, and demanded money from the register, according to the affidavit. Perez complied, putting the cigarettes and the money in a plastic bag handing it to the armed robber. Birch said “thank you” and shot the victim. The gunman fled the store on foot.
The robbery is similar to a robbery nearby earlier the same day at a Conoco station, the affidavit said. In that robbery, a man wearing a hoodie with “No Pain No Jain” written on the front also used a long- barrel revolver. In the Conoco robbery, the gunman fired a single shot into the store ceiling. Investigators connected a Ford Fiesta to the Conoco robbery through surveillance video.
On Dec. 11, investigators were contacted by a woman, Angela Marie Olson, who identified the suspect as the boyfriend of her daughter. Investigators spoke with Jennifer Olson, 27, who said she recognized Birch in surveillance photos that had been released by the sheriff’s office. She also confirmed Birch drove a Fiesta, and Olson also recognized the “No Pain No Jain” hoodie.
Jennifer Olson, according to the affidavit, told investigators that Birch left the apartment they share about 3 p. m. Thanksgiving Day , and he returned about five hours later.
In the following days he showed her cash and admitted to the robberies. Birch told Olson he buried the gun.
Birch was arrested Dec. 11.