ALAMOSA — Two men have been charged by the 12^th Judicial District Attorney’s Office for their alleged involvement in the Jan. 9 death of Aron Delgado at 1516 W. 6th St., Alamosa, an area known locally as the “Bow Wow.”

Despite being in the Alamosa County Detention Center when the crime took place, Alejandro Sandoval, 31, is accused of committing conspiracy to commit assault in the first degree and manslaughter, both class four felonies. Conspiracy is when someone plans to do something illegal with another person.

With six previous felony convictions in three different judicial districts in Colorado over the past 10 years, Sandoval has six counts of “habitual criminal” listed on the arrest affidavit. Those six counts are sentence enhancers that increase the range of sentencing a judge can consider, if Sandoval is found guilty of manslaughter and conspiracy to commit assault.  

Co-defendant Christian Montano, 24, is facing charges of aggravated robbery, a class three felony, and conspiracy to commit assault in the first degree, a class four felony.

According to the 27-page arrest affidavit obtained from the Alamosa County Clerk by the Valley Courier, at 8 p.m. on Jan. 9, officers with the Alamosa Police Department (APD) were dispatched to a residence on West 6th Street in reference to a man who was not breathing and may have been shot. When they arrived, APD officers found a man, lying on the ground with blood on his face, no pulse and not breathing. Life-saving efforts by both APD and EMS were unsuccessful.

The man, whose identity was later confirmed, was known to the APD detective on the scene as 24-year-old Aron Delgado. According to the affidavit, the detective knew Delgado went by the name “Kaveson” and was affiliated with a known gang member of KDM – Kings de Monte, a street gang out of Monte Vista.

Four other individuals were on the scene, including Montano. Officers learned that another man, Jose Cordova, 24, had left the scene with a firearm before officers arrived.

About half an hour later, Cordova was contacted at the Alta gas station, 725 State Ave., and EMS had been called to come to the location and check on him. Troopers with the Colorado State Patrol, who were assisting and had gone to the convenience store, learned from Cordova that he had left the firearm in a place not far from where the shooting took place. Troopers found the gun where Cordova said he had left it. Cordova was transported to SLV Regional Medical Center where he was treated for injuries sustained during a physical altercation at the 6th Street location. 

Montano and the other three individuals APD encountered at West 6th Street were taken to the APD station for interviews, with the detective noting in the affidavit that Montano had “some blood, cuts and scratches on his hands and face.” After being informed of his Miranda Rights, Montano refused to speak about the incident but gave permission for DNA samples to be taken. Montano’s clothing, including jewelry, was collected as evidence.

After being released from the hospital, Cordova came to the APD station where he told the detective that he had spent part of the afternoon, helping a female friend, initials JM, pick up her brother. He and JM had then gone to another location to pick up three more of JM’s friends, including another woman — initials UM, Delgado and Montano.

The group made several stops, including a stop at Walgreens, during which JM was arguing on the phone with someone while Montano and UM went inside. When the detective asked who JM was speaking to, Cordova “wasn’t sure but thought it was” JM’s boyfriend, later determined to be Alejandro Sandoval. Cordova said he did not know Sandoval and had never met him.

Sandoval, who was in the Alamosa Detention Center, thought Cordova and JM were involved in a sexual relationship. When Montano and UM came outside, Montano was speaking to someone on the phone.

Cordova said when JM hung up the phone, she seemed angry and frustrated. JM then asked UM why she was saying things about her to Sandoval. UM responded that she knew what she had heard.

The group of five people then went to the Bow Wow where UM lived. As Cordova told the detective, “that’s where everything happened.”

When the group arrived at the residence, UM got a phone call from Sandoval. She then told everyone to get out of the car as Sandoval wanted to speak to JM privately. Cordova said Montano took the phone and asked Sandoval if “he still wanted him to do that.” Montano then said, “OK,” and handed the phone back to UM.

Cordova was standing next to Delgado when Montano came up behind him. Montano hit him first and then both men started hitting Cordova, knocking him to the ground and “stomping him on his head and body.” Cordova said he was done and Montano and Delgado “backed off”. While both Montano and Delgado were on top of Cordova and holding him down, Montano told Delgado to check Cordova’s pockets. Cordova was searching for something to strike them with when he felt Delgado had “a metal thing” that he suspected was a gun.

When Delgado pulled out the gun, Cordova thought he was going to be killed and said he began to struggle and try to get away. He said “Delgado was slow getting the gun ready” which gave him time to grab the gun. A struggle ensued, causing the gun to go off.

Cordova told the detective he heard Delgado say, “It got me.” Montano, who seemed surprised, got up. Cordova said, at that point, Delgado “didn’t have the gun anymore and his hands went limp.”

Cordova said he got the gun and ran from the scene because he “didn’t want to get killed.” He ran toward the Alta station, hiding the gun where he later told CSP troopers it could be found.

During the interview with the detective, Cordova demonstrated how he was on the ground, when Montano and Delgado were hitting him and what he was doing to get away. The detective states in the affidavit that Cordova’s injuries to his head, face, neck, chest and back were consistent with Cordova’s description.

Over the next days of the investigation, the APD detectives reviewed surveillance tapes from Walgreens but, in what ended up reaping significant evidence, listened to the tapes of phone calls made by Sandoval from the Alamosa County Detention Center to JM and others before the incident occurred and chaotic calls made afterward.

Excerpts from those conversations, which are several pages long and included in the affidavit, quote Sandoval as saying — among many other things — he had told “Kaveson and little Chris” to handle that s**t”,” phone calls to one of Cordova’s friends telling him to relay his threats to Cordova for “coming to Alamosa” and spending time with his girlfriend and instructions to Montano to do as he had been instructed to do.

Sandoval and Montano are scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, June 14, at which time the DA’s office will present evidence of why the case should be bound over to district court for prosecution.