JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. An Aurora man who pleaded not guilty to murdering a soliciting man on an off-ramp of W. 6th Avenue in Lakewood was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison on Friday.
After hearing testimony in court regarding a first-degree murder charge against Randy Alan Jiron, now 42 years old, the jury began deliberations on Oct. 18, which marked the fifth day of the trial. They deliberated for just under two hours before reaching a guilty verdict, according to the First Judicial District Attorneys Office. Jiron was then sentenced to life in prison without parole.
He pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder charge in December 2023, sending the case to trial.
This case began in the early evening hours of June 20, 2023. Around 7:30 p.m. that day, officers with the Lakewood Police Department responded to a report of a man with a gunshot wound near the off-ramp for westbound W. 6th Avenue to Simms Avenue. When they arrived at the scene, they saw West Metro Fire paramedics loading a man into an ambulance.
The man was later identified as 52-year-old Craig Joseph Bruce. He had been shot one time in the torso, according to an arrest affidavit for Jiron.
Witnesses at the scene told police they had seen an old, rusty red Jeep pull up next to the man, open fire and then speed away. Multiple witnesses left their cars to help the bleeding man.
Police spoke at the hospital with Bruce briefly before he went into surgery. He told them he did not know who shot him or why, according to the affidavit.
Over the course of two hours, about 20 medical staff worked to save his life, according to Jiron's arrest affidavit. But doctors said they were unable to repair the "extensive" damage, the document reads. They were able to keep him alive long enough to say goodbye to family, according to the affidavit. He died at 10:34 p.m. His death was ruled a homicide.
Police gathered surveillance footage of the shooting. They watched a video that showed Bruce walking up and down the off-ramp, appearing to ask for money, according to the affidavit. He was seen walking back up the off-ramp on the south side as the traffic light turned green and vehicles started to move.
"Detectives can see an older model red Jeep slow down next to the vehicle and can see the victim react as if he had been shot," the affidavit reads.
The video also showed two bullet impacts hitting the grass behind Bruce, the affidavit says.
Police said they saw just one person, the driver, in the car. As part of the investigation, they also collected cell phone location data.
The day after the shooting, police in Parker called the Lakewood Police Department to report they had seen the red Jeep. They were able to determine the car was registered to Jiron using the car's temporary license plate.
Now that they had a name, police searched his history. They learned that he was well-known to authorities. In February 2023, an Aurora officer reported that Jiron tended to be "very volatile and angers easily. Reports mention suicide by cop. There is concern that if police show up at his residence, it will trigger a hostile response," Jiron's arrest affidavit reads. The officer reached out to Jiron after the FBI reported that Jiron was calling them constantly "about hearing voices, having hallucinations, sex slaves, and his cheating ex-girlfriend. Something that was mentioned was someone planning a murder and staging a suicide," the affidavit reads.
About two weeks later, on Feb. 19, 2023, the FBI requested that Aurora police contact Jiron after he had allegedly contacted the FBI National Threat Operation Center multiple times the day before with disjointed statements like "Disgusts me, this type of harassment is the cause of mass shootings in this country," "If I want as sane as I am, while the world around me always as if I have a mental illness, I would have already taken the lives of many people," and "They're left to do, but go down a list of people I hear, and take out as many as I can," according to the affidavit.
With this information, Lakewood police went undercover and found the suspect's red Jeep on Pine Bluffs Way in Parker and followed him to Strasburg. Lakewood police and the Adams County SWAT team responded and after Jiron surrendered, he was taken into custody, according to the affidavit.
Jiron was arrested the day after the shooting, on June 21, 2023. He was held at the Jefferson County jail on suspicion of first-degree murder and was formally charged with first-degree murder after deliberation in Jefferson County court on June 29, 2023.
On Friday, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
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