Got Pot Grow Thread

Man shoots two teens in pot-filled back yard, killing one

By Joshua Rhett Miller October 11, 2016 | 5:50pm


A Denver man is facing murder and attempted murder charges after he allegedly shot two teenagers apparently trying to steal marijuana plants from his back yard, killing one and possibly paralyzing the other.



Keith David Hammock, 48, allegedly shot the teenagers with a .22-caliber rifle from a second-floor bedroom window at 2830 High St. at about 2 a.m. Sunday. A 14-year-old boy who survived the shooting called police, according to an arrest warrant affidavit, and told a dispatcher he was dying.



“At one point during the call, another male voice can be heard in the background,” the affidavit reads. “The victim appears to be talking to a person at or near the crime scene. The male victim says that he is sorry. During the call, the person in the background makes a comment about climbing the fence.”



Hammock later told police someone jumped over the fence into his back yard, setting off a motion detector light. He then went out back and found the two teenagers “laying on the ground near the compost heap,” according to the arrest affidavit.



Hammock said one of the teens started using a cellphone; he then declined to make additional statements regarding the incident without an attorney. He’s currently facing charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and investigation of felony marijuana cultivation, Denver police spokesman Doug Schepman told The Post.



The Denver Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as Keylin Mosley, 15. An autopsy determined the cause of death was a gunshot wound and the case is classified as a homicide, authorities confirmed to The Post.



The mother of the surviving teen told police her son said he was shot twice, once while in Hammock’s back yard and a second time while he was climbing over the fence. The boy’s mother said he may be paralyzed from the waist down, according to the arrest affidavit.



Both teens were found in the northeast corner of Hammock’s back yard, where several mature marijuana plants were growing, some in orange five-gallon buckets, according to the affidavit. Investigators also noticed a trail of marijuana in an alley from Hammock’s residence to another home on the same block, where officers found a single five-gallon bucket with a marijuana plant inside.



The owner of the home, Eleise Clark-Gunnells, told police Hammock is her roommate and former boyfriend who has been living with her for about two to three years. Clark-Gunnells said she was aware of the marijuana plants in her back yard and told police they belonged to Hammock.



Clark-Gunnells told police she kept a .22-caliber rifle under her bed and also had several handguns. But a search warrant later executed at the home uncovered two rifles, ammunition and four bullet casings in the window sill that overlooked the back yard, according to the affidavit.



Sonny Jackson, a spokesman for the Denver Police Department, told The Post that interviews in the case are still pending. A mugshot of Hammock was not available, he said.



The Denver Post reports that Hammock was arrested on charges of marijuana possession, flourishing a weapon, carrying a concealed weapon and obstructing police, citing Colorado Bureau of Investigation records. The record does not indicate the disposition of the case, the newspaper reports.