Main, left to right: Steven Cole Simpson and Corryn Simpson (Jefferson County Sheriff's Office). Inset: Andrew Luke Bott (Ellis Family Services).
A 25-year-old man in Colorado is accused of killing a passenger in another vehicle during a road rage incident in which he allegedly chased the other car through a suburban neighborhood while firing several shots, striking the 23-year-old victim in the head.
Steven Cole Simpson was taken into custody this week and charged with one count of first-degree murder after deliberation and one count of attempted first-degree murder after deliberation in the slaying of Andrew Luke Bott, prosecutors announced.
Simpson's wife, 26-year-old Corryn Simpson, was on the phone with 911 at the time of the alleged shooting and was instructed by the dispatcher to stop following the other vehicle. She is charged as an accessory to first-degree murder.
According to a news release from the First Judicial District Attorney's Office, the incident began shortly after 10:30 p.m. on July 25 when the Simpsons' white BMW X5 and a Ford F-150 pickup truck carrying Bott collided on southbound Santa Fe Drive near Arapahoe Community College in unincorporated Jefferson County.
When the pickup fled the scene after the collision, Steven Simpson gave chase while his wife called 911 to report the crash. Dispatchers instructed the couple to stop following the truck, but they allegedly continued chasing the pickup west on Bowles Avenue and into the Grant Ranch neighborhood.
During the call, Steven Simpson could be heard "making a threatening statement" just moments before the dispatcher heard two gunshots, police wrote in an affidavit obtained by The Jeffco Transcript. Prosecutors allege he fired multiple rounds into the pickup, one of which struck Bott in the head.
Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies responded after receiving a 911 hang-up call from the driver of the pickup truck. When the dispatcher called back, the driver reportedly said another car was shooting at them and his passenger had been shot.
The driver pulled into the parking lot at Columbine High School, where deputies rendered emergency aid before transporting Bott to Littleton Adventist Hospital. He died the following day.
Sheriff's detectives, assisted by the Littleton Police Department, identified the Simpsons through witness statements, 911 recordings, Flock cameras, surveillance footage, and other evidence obtained through search warrants. The Flock cameras reportedly captured the BMW and the pickup entering and leaving the Grant Ranch neighborhood within seconds of one another.
Search warrants executed at the Simpsons' Highlands Ranch home and BMW led investigators to seize three 9 mm handguns along with ammunition that was allegedly consistent with shell casings recovered from the scene of the shooting, Denver ABC affiliate KMGH reported. Additional evidence was seized and sent to a crime lab for forensic testing.
Both defendants are scheduled to appear in Jefferson County Court for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 2, records show.