Police sort through tales of shootings

Having interviewed some 25 teens and young adults, police say there could have been many more -- perhaps a total of between 50 and 75 -- at the party in the warehouse at 4900 Homer Drive when shots rang out at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday.

So far, those who have talked to police have offered muddled tales that have left only questions, police spokeswoman Anita Shell said.

"What we're getting is a lot of information from partygoers that we're unable to follow up on. It's not real specific information," Shell said. "We haven't gotten a real consistent picture of what transpired."

What is clear is that three people were struck by bullets. Two of them, Robert Lee Jr., 21, and Alexander Hilden, 22, survived. But 16-year-old Colton Crow, a sophomore at Frontier Charter School, died Monday after a day on life support.

What spurred the fatal dispute remained a mystery Tuesday. Neighbors just behind the warehouse reported being awakened by an argument followed by a fight that broke a fence before sporadic shots were heard.

"I started hearing the arguing: male voices ... and they were being aggressive," said one woman, who asked not to be named for her safety. "After I heard them thudding against the fence, that's when I called the police. I no sooner hung up and then I heard the shots."

She didn't look outside for fear of being seen, but her neighbor caught some of the action on her cell phone camera. It was the first time there had been such a disturbance at the warehouse, she said. "It's the first time I've been scared in this neighborhood."

At the scene Tuesday, one of the warehouse bay doors had been pierced by three bullet holes across its width, with another hole in the wall nearby. Boards from a section of the wood-paneled fence that separates the warehouse from neighboring houses were splintered apart, some fallen to the trampled snow below.

Police wouldn't say how as many as 75 youths were able to enter the warehouse to hold a booze-infused party until the wee hours. The youths did not break in, although neither did they have the facility owner's permission to be there, Shell said.

People at the businesses inside the warehouse were equally mum Tuesday. A woman at Christensen Builders Inc. refused to comment. A man at Beacon Occupational Health and Safety Services directed inquiries to operations manager Tony French, who didn't return phone and e-mail messages Tuesday.

APD Sgt. Slawomir Markiewicz, supervisor of the homicide unit, said police are looking for a "person of interest" in the shooting, described as a tall, stocky white man in his mid-teens to late 20s who was wearing a white hat and a hoodie. Until they find him, police will try finding others who were at the party and inspect items that were left behind.

"We've got a lot of evidence that we can eventually get fingerprints and stuff like that from," Markiewicz said. "I am convinced that with so many people present, that eventually this case will be closed and the suspect will be charged."