Figueroa gets life plus 98 for Jan. killing

Ishmael Figueroa

AURORA | A judge Wednesday sentenced an Aurora man to life in prison plus 98 years for gunning a man down near an Aurora grocery store early this year. 

Ishmael Edward Figueroa, 24, was convicted Sept. 30 following a trial in Arapahoe County District Court that lasted about a week and a half.

The first-degree murder conviction carried a mandatory sentence in life in prison without the possibility of parole and at Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Valeria Spencer tacked on an addition 98 years for four counts of attempted murder and nine counts of reckless endangerment

“Mr. Figueroa, you have removed yourself from this community,” Spencer said at the hearing. “Because of your actions you will spend the rest of your natural life in prison.”

Prosecutors say that on Jan. 18, Figueroa was in a dispute with a group of people because he had been calling and sending sexual text messages to a teenage girl.

Figueroa and the group agreed to meet at a Safeway grocery store at East Quincy Avenue and South Buckley road to settle the dispute.

Prosecutors said witnesses told investigators that as the group passed an alley and reached the front of the Safeway store, they heard Figueroa yell at them from the alley: “Come over here.  I got something for you.”

Figueroa and the group then argued and he pulled out a handgun, firing  several rounds into the group, hitting Loren Anthony Collins in the neck. 

Collins walked into the grocery store and asked for help and Safeway employees called authorities.

He died the following day.

The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office said Collins died of a single gunshot wound to the neck the day after the shooting. While doctors ruled Collins brain dead that day, he was kept alive for a few days so his organs could be donated, according to the coroner’s office.

Figueroa fled the scene and was later arrested at his mother’s house.