In a quiet Aurora, Colorado apartment on a Saturday morning, a family tragedy unfolded, leaving a young mother and her infant daughter dead. On December 14, 2024, 14-month-old Aaliyah Leanne Vargas Reyes and her 20-year-old mother, Alondra Reyes, were fatally shot. The female infant and her mother were victims of a domestic dispute that escalated to deadly violence.
Police were first alerted to trouble at the residence in the 10300 block of East Evans Avenue around 10:27 a.m. when a 911 call was made with the sounds of yelling and screaming in the background. Shortly after that call disconnected, a second call came in reporting that shots had been fired within the home. Upon their arrival, officers discovered a tragic scene. Both Aaliyah and her mother were found with life-threatening gunshot wounds. Despite immediate medical aid from the officers at the scene and being rushed to separate hospitals, both mother and child succumbed to their injuries. A third individual, a 44-year-old woman and the grandmother of the infant, was also inside the apartment and sustained a minor gunshot wound to her hand for which she was treated at the scene.
The investigation into the double homicide quickly revealed a grim conclusion. The suspected shooter was identified as 19-year-old Alexander Kai Vargas, the father of Aaliyah and the former boyfriend of Alondra. When police entered and cleared the apartment, they found Vargas deceased in a back bedroom from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators believe that Vargas shot and killed Alondra and their daughter before taking his own life. The incident was determined to be a family-related matter, and as the sole suspect was deceased, no arrests were made. The Arapahoe County Coroner's Office officially ruled the deaths of Aaliyah and Alondra as homicides.
