Driver shot on on I-225 in Aurora dies; suspect charged with murder

The driver shot on Interstate 225 in Aurora earlier this month died Sunday from his injuries at the hospital, escalating the case to a murder investigation, police said.

Celin Villeda-Orellana, a 38-year-old Honduran man, now faces four felony charges in Arapahoe County District Court in the highway shooting, including first-degree murder after deliberation, first-degree assault causing serious bodily injury with a deadly weapon, menacing and illegal discharge of a firearm, according to court records.

Aurora officers responded to a crash on eastbound I-225 near Sixth Avenue at about 1:15 a.m. on Oct. 18. When they arrived, officers discovered that a 30-year-old Aurora man driving a white Ford Focus had crashed into the west highway barrier wall. The man appeared to have multiple gunshot wounds to his neck, police said.

Paramedics took the victim the hospital, where he later died from his injuries, police said in a Tuesday update.

Another driver told investigators that a dark-colored car had pulled up next to the victim’s Ford before the shooting. The witness heard a loud pop that he initially believed was a car backfiring before the Ford swerved into the highway wall, police wrote in Villeda-Orellana’s arrest affidavit.

Villeda-Orellana allegedly targeted the victim, who has not been publicly identified, because the victim was dating Villeda-Orellana’s ex-girlfriend, police said.

As of Friday, Villeda-Orellana was in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody on federal weapons charges. Aurora police at that time said they were working to transfer him to the Arapahoe County Jail.

Villeda-Orellana was previously deported in 2007, 2018 and 2020, according to Aurora police.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

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