Daniel King-William Barlow, a 14-year-old white male from Cheyenne, Wyoming, was shot in the early morning hours of July 5, 2021, in the area of Taft Avenue, where police were dispatched around 1 a.m. on reports of gunfire. Officers arrived to find him wounded, and he was taken to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
In the months that followed, the case hung in a tense quiet.
Police acknowledged there had been a large number of people in the area when the shooting happened, but no one else was physically hurt, and investigators were still working toward a public update as the summer turned to fall.
By mid-January 2022, investigators publicly named two suspects. Cheyenne police announced that Raymond Sanchez of Cheyenne and Xavier Sanchez of Casper had been charged as adults, with Raymond facing first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and Xavier facing attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Authorities said the two acted together during the homicide, and that Raymond had been arrested July 10, 2021 on unrelated charges and held in custody while Xavier was arrested July 15, 2021 in Casper on charges tied to the killing.
At a January 28, 2022 hearing, a judge found probable cause to send the case forward to district court. Testimony summarized in reporting described the shooting as the culmination of a simmering conflict and gang rivalries: Barlow was described as a Bloods gang member, while Raymond was described as a Sureno who knew Barlow from a prior conflict and who, along with Xavier and a friend, went to Barlow's apartment at the Cheyenne Station Apartments in the 1600 block of Taft Avenue intending to fight him. The account said a third person—identified by initials in one report and later named as Dane Martinez—was sent to knock because he was unknown to the people inside, and when Barlow opened the door and tried to slam it shut, Raymond fired through the door and hit him. Investigators also alleged Xavier fired a round toward an open window after noticing a witness, but no one was struck by that shot.
As the case moved through court in 2022, the charging picture shifted. Reporting on a July 2022 plea hearing said Raymond described being under the influence of multiple substances when the group went to the apartment, and that the plan was to confront Barlow; when Barlow opened the door and recognized Raymond, the shot went through the door and proved fatal. Raymond later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and on October 6, 2022, he was sentenced to 20 to 22 years in prison by Laramie County District Judge Thomas Campbell. During that sentencing, the district attorney said the state could not bring charges against Dane Martinez because of constitutional violations tied to his police interview, and also voiced frustration that other adults believed to be intertwined with the events could not be held accountable.
Xavier's case also ended in a plea to reduced charges. A July 2022 report said he pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault and battery after originally being charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, with the allegations still tying him to the trip to the apartment and at least one shot fired at the exterior of the building as he fled. Another report later stated he was sentenced to 8 to 10 years in prison for his role in the incident.
