Three arrested after 14-year-old girl is shot dead during TikTok dance at Colorado home
Aaliyah Salazar, 14, was shot in head on 7 August inside a home in Colorado’s Monte Vista
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Three suspects have been arrested after a 14-year-old girl was fatally shot while making TikTok videos inside a Colorado home earlier this month.
Aaliyah Salazar was shot in the head on 7 August inside a home in Colorado’s Monte Vista.
According to court documents, the teen was making a video at the time, reported KRDO TV.
The redacted affidavit states that officers were dispatched to the home at 4.26pm on Sunday, 7 August.
Officers who reached the scene found the victim unconscious and not breathing.
Emergency Medical Services arrived and confirmed that “there were no vital signs or signs of life from the victim”. Investigators later determined that she had been shot in the head.
Oregon Safeway shooting: Suspect identified as police praise ‘heroic’ grocery worker who died trying to disarm him
‘Daddy’s dead’: Mother’s friend describes moment Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz watched father die
Off-duty Arizona police officer who fatally shot man in wheelchair from behind is charged nine months later
On 12 August, the Monte Vista police department said two juvenile females and an adult, 21-year-old Emiliano Vargas, were arrested in connection with Aaliyah’s death.
Police said that they have found the video that was being filmed when Aaliyah was shot. One of the arrested teens said that it could have been “an accident”.
Mr Vargas faces charges of providing a handgun to a juvenile, a class-four felony in Colorado.
The arrest affidavit states that he told the police that he was not at the house, owned by his grandmother, when the gun was fired. Mr Vargas and one of the suspects, his 17-year-old girlfriend, live in the house.
The weapon that killed Aaliyah was allegedly kept out in the open on a shelf. Authorities also found photos of minors with the gun in May.
Police do not believe the victim shot herself, though both Aaliyah and the gun were found in the same room.
On Monday, Aaliyah’s family gathered in a Monte Vista parking lot to pay tributes to the 14-year-old, reported 9news.com. “It’s hard, it’s hard to put into words,” said the teen’s father William Salazar.
Family members believe that it was not an accident, and she may have been purposely shot.
“The frustration I’ve got with that is if you take a life you should have to pay for it dearly,” Gary Salazar, Aaliyah’s grandfather, said. “Not with a slap on the hand and say don’t do it again.”