In the winter of 2018, the life of 17-year-old Byron Ware was tragically cut short in a burst of violence that also claimed the life of another young man in Denver's Montbello neighborhood. On the evening of February 3rd, a shooting erupted in the 13100 block of East Elgin Place, leaving a scene of chaos and heartbreak. When police responded to the reports of gunfire, they found the beginning of a grim puzzle that would soon identify Ware and 18-year-old Abisai Ponce Gutierrez as the victims of
a double homicide.
The immediate aftermath of the shooting saw one of the victims transported to a hospital, while two others, including Ware, arrived at a separate medical facility by their own means. It was there that one of them would succumb to their injuries. The Denver Office of the Medical Examiner later confirmed that both Byron Ware and Abisai Ponce Gutierrez died from gunshot wounds, ruling their deaths as homicides. A third individual was also critically injured in the incident.
In the days that followed the violent event, the community grappled with the loss of two of its young members. The investigation into the double homicide quickly led to persons of interest. Initially, police identified 18-year-old Octavio Morales as a person of interest after making contact with him at one of the medical centers. Soon after, both Morales and another suspect, 19-year-old Kylvito Garrette, were taken into custody. Denver police announced that both men were under investigation for first-degree murder in connection with the shooting that ended the lives of Byron Ware and Abisai Ponce Gutierrez. The tragic event spurred community action, including a march and a vigil where family and friends gathered to mourn and release balloons with messages written to Byron, a young life taken too soon.
