DENVER (KDVR) — A man was sentenced Friday for shooting into a large crowd of people downtown after the Denver Nuggets won the NBA Championship in June 2023.
The Denver District Attorney’s Office said Ricardo Vazquez was sentenced to 35 years in prison for an attempt to commit murder in the first degree – extreme indifference, for which he took a plea deal in January.
The DA said he also received a concurrent sentence of eight years in prison for intent to distribute a controlled substance.
The shooting happened near 20th and Market Street on June 13, 2023, after the Nuggets’ NBA finals win. According to the DA’s office, Vazquez fired shots into a crowd, injuring at least four of them. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment classified the incident as a mass shooting, listing that nine people were injured.
Two other people were arrested in connection to the case.
The case for Raoul Jones was closed in February this year. He was arrested after the shooting on one charge of possession of a weapon by a previous offender. According to court records, he pleaded guilty in November 2024 and was fined and sentenced to one year in the Department of Corrections.
Kenneth Blakely pleaded not guilty in January 2024 to six charges, including first-degree murder after deliberation, first-degree murder – extreme indifference, assault with a deadly weapon, assault in the first degree – extreme indifference, and two charges for use of a weapon in a violent crime. The pretrial is set to begin April 4 and the jury trial will begin April 14.
