| Originator’s Murder a Mystery
Jesus Diaz abandoned after shooting May 16, 2005 |
| As a new mortgage loan officer, Jesus “Speedy” Diaz hoped to turn his life around. But he was at the wrong place at the wrong time.And now he’s dead.
Denver Police don’t believe Diaz, 28, was not the intended target when a shot was fired into a crowd where Diaz was standing with friends in late March. But the bullet hit Diaz in the head and, according to a report in the Rocky Mountain News, he fell on a set of light-rail train tracks. Two hours later he was dead. Police have not recovered a murder weapon, don’t have any suspects, have had a difficult time talking to witnesses and have not made any arrests. Diaz grew up in a tough neighborhood and did have a criminal record. But friends told the paper that he was trying to turn his life around and have recently landed a job as a loan officer a mortgage company. “He got a good job, was making good money, being straight, not going out,” Rebecca Kraft was quoted as saying. “He had changed a lot.” Another friend, Melissa Martinez, said Diaz was “a good guy, and he was bettering his life.” “I don’t want him to be remembered as a criminal,” she told the News. “That doesn’t describe him at all.” According to a statement from Denver Police officers were called to the scene of a shooting at about 2:25 a.m. on the morning of March 30. “Upon arrival, the officers located the victim…suffering from a gunshot wound to the head,” police said. “The victim was taken to the Denver Health Medical Center where he died as a result of his injuries at 4:30 a.m.” Police said Diaz has been partying with a group of friends when he was shot. After he was shot, “this large gathering then fled the area leaving the victim lying in the street.” But before the group scattered, at least some of them banged on the door of a nearby firehouse and alerted the firefighters inside that Diaz had been shot, police said. Police had hoped to talk the witnesses but “these individuals fled the area without providing additional information.” Light rail service was halted for about 90 minutes while police investigated the crime scene. Kraft told the paper that she hopes at least one of the people with Diaz that night comes forward with information about the shooting. “I want him to go to police and tell them what happened,” she reportedly said. “Be an eyewitness to what happened that night. They don’t have nothing to do with the shooting; that’s why I want them to come forward.” |
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Patrick Crowley is a political reporter and columnist and former business writer for The Cincinnati Enquirer. Email Patrick at: pcrowley@enquirer.com |
