COLORADO SPRINGS – A Colorado Springs man has pleaded guilty to his role in the gang-related killings of two high school students.
The Gazette reports 20-year-old Diego Chacon pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of second-degree murder in the March 2017 shooting deaths of 16-year-old Natalie Cano-Partida and 15-year-old Derek Greer.
Chacon’s plea deal calls for a 65-year prison sentence and doesn’t require him to testify against 22-year-old Marco Garcia-Bravo, the other alleged shooter.
Chacon said that after shooting Partida, he “passed off the gun to another individual,” who then shot Greer. He didn’t identify the second shooter.
The teens were abducted at gunpoint and driven to a road outside Fountain, where they were shot at point-blank range. Investigators said they were targeted over suspicions that Cano-Partida had been helping a rival street gang.
Greer was killed to eliminate a witness.
