Aurora Police Chief Praises ICE After Swift Arrest of Illegal Immigrant Murder Suspect

By Staff | The Sentinel Colorado

AURORA | Aurora’s police chief credited Aurora investigators as well as ICE and Homeland Security agents in quickly tracking down a Venezuelan immigrant accused of shooting his wife and her sister in front of five children early Sunday inside an Aurora apartment.

Investigators on Monday said they found and arrested Michel Jordan Castellano-Fonseca, 30, late Sunday, who they say shot and killed his 26-year-old sister-in-law and critically injured his wife at about 3 a.m. at Aurora Meadows apartments in the 1000 block of Cimarron Circle.

“The one thing that I really want to detail…is the foundation of the incident itself,” Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain told reporters at a press conference Monday “This was a tragic loss of life. This event occurred by an individual who, quite frankly, should not have ever been in this country in the first place.”

Chamberlain repeatedly told reporters that Castellano-Fonseca was a Venezuelan immigrant and had “illegally” immigrated first to Florida and then to Aurora.

“So again, he came illegally into the country in 2023 and he never, at any time, filed for any type of legitimate process to get started into the process of becoming a citizen,” Chamberlain said. “And again, in Florida, sometimes he was picked up for a traffic violation issue and citation.”

Chamberlain didn’t release details of the traffic infraction, but also expanded on details of the Aurora crime, and how the suspect’s arrest unfolded.

“The preliminary investigation by APD’s Major Crime Homicide Unit suggests the shooting stemmed from a possible domestic violence incident, after which Castellano-Fonseca threatened to return to the apartment complex with a firearm,” Aurora Police spokesperson Joe Moylan said in a statement Sunday.

Chamberlain said local officers had contacted Castellano-Fonseca sometime last year on a previous domestic violence call, although there was no arrest nor follow-up from that incident.

On Saturday, Castellano-Fonseca was “high on cocaine” and inebriated, which may have been the crux of the domestic violence in his Aurora apartment Saturday, Chamberlain speculated.

At one point, Castellano-Fonseca left the apartment and called an acquaintance in order to find a gun, the chief said.

Police said he did that, meeting someone in a local park. From there, Castellano-Fonseca and the unidentified acquaintance drove near East Mississippi Avenue and South Chambers Street, and Castellano-Fonseca fired the gun from the car in “practice,” Chamberlain said.

He then returned to the Aurora apartment and muscled his way through the front door at about 3 a.m., which was answered by a 15-year-old girl living in the apartment with the two women and four other children.

“She tried to close the door. The suspect, he put his foot in the doorway, holding the door in place, and then he pushed the door completely open,” Chamberlain said. “The children and the women, in fear for their life, gathered and huddled together and tried to run into the bathroom. As they were running into the bathroom, the suspect followed those victims and then randomly shot two of them in the head, which included the wife and also the sister.”

His wife is in critical condition in a nearby hospital. Her sister died from the gunshot wound inside the apartment, Chamberlain said.

Castellano-Fonseca then left the apartment and drove away his car.

“None of the children were injured during the shooting,” Moylan said.

Castellano-Fonseca left the scene in a green Acura MDX SUV bearing a Colorado license plate, CV0668.

Castellano-Fonseca was captured a hours later after police asked for the public’s help in finding him, saying he was ”considered armed and dangerous,” Moylan said.

Chamberlain said police used community surveillance technology to search for license plates matching what they knew about Castellano-Fonseca. Eventually they did and began tracking him down.

Police said they encountered him in a nearby Taco Bell parking lot eating.

“This was a tragic loss of life.,” Chamberlain said. “This event occurred by an individual who, quite frankly, should not have ever been in this country in the first place.”

Chamberlain said the immigration agents’ help was critical to finding Castellano-Fonseca, but he did not detail how.

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