News

Vape Juice Robbery Gone Wrong: $25 Got 4 Colorado Teens Charged With Murder

The alleged victim was selling vape juice in his Snapchat stories.
Teens who attempted to rob another teen of $25 in vape juice ended up murdering him — just days before he graduated high school, according to police.

Teens who attempted to rob another teen of $25 in vape juice ended up murdering him — just days before he graduated high school, according to police.

The four teens involved have been charged with first-degree murder in Colorado’s Arapahoe County for allegedly shooting Lloyd Chavez IV, an 18-year-old high school student, on May 8. The teens — Juliana Serrano, Kenneth Gallegos, Dominic Stager, and Demarea Mitchell — have all been charged as adults.

Advertisement

Before his death, Chavez identified his killer as “Kenny,” presumably in reference to Gallegos. Serrano told police conflicting stories but said that she and the other three teens went to Chavez’s house to rob him of vape juice, which he frequently advertised for sale on his Snapchat stories.

According to an affidavit, Serrano gave the money, around $25, to Chavez, who started to walk away because he didn’t have the products. That’s when Chavez and Mitchell got into a fight, which ended in someone firing a .22 caliber gun that fatally wounded Chavez, according to police. He later died in surgery after speaking to a nurse at the hospital.

After he was shot, Chavez went inside and had his sister call the police. The four teenagers then allegedly fled the scene after taking the money back and without any vaping products. Gallegos, and his girlfriend, Serrano, had allegedly planned for the robbery for days, but Serrano told cops that the idea was to simply scare Chavez with the gun, according to an affidavit.

Gallegos appeared in court Wednesday, and the three other suspects appeared in court Thursday.

Chavez’s relative posted on Facebook that the family was fundraising for the funeral, which is scheduled for Saturday.

“Lloyd was an amazing young man who had his whole life ahead of him,” Chavez' cousin, Angie Lilyblade, wrote on Facebook.

Cover image: E-Liquids, which are used for vaping in electronic cigarettes, are offered for sale at the Smoke Depot on September 13, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)