NewsCovering Colorado

Actions

Pueblo Co Sheriff’s Office investigates shots fired during funeral

Posted
and last updated
St Joseph Church in Blende
Pueblo Co Sheriff’s Office investigates shooting outside St Joseph Church in Blende.

PUEBLO COUNTY – The entrance of St. Josephs in Blende, Colorado was blocked off Thursday afternoon as deputies with the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office investigated a shooting.

Family and friends were at the church to pay their last respects to Frankie Hernandez, the 38-year-old man killed in a crash in Pueblo West last Tuesday.

According to deputies, witnesses report people inside a Ford Escape and a black Chrysler were arguing when someone in the Ford opened fire.  No one was injured.

The Chrysler was found at a home on E. 18th Street in Pueblo where officers questioned everyone involved. No one was arrested at the home.

Deputies were able to obtain information that pointed to Leonard Rodriguez as the person who fired the gun. He was found in a parking lot on Bonforte Ave in Pueblo.

Rodriguez was arrested for two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of felony menacing, two counts of reckless endangerment, possession of a weapon by a previous offender and possession of a Schedule 1 controlled substance. He was booked into the Pueblo County Jail.

Leonard Rodriguez
Leonard Rodriguez

So far, detectives are not commenting on a possible motive for the shooting.

The man whose funeral was underway died in a crash last week. Frankie Hernandez was driving a stolen Honda when he hit a pickup on John Powell Blvd.  Hernandez and his passenger, 40-year-old Catherine Tafoya, were both killed in the crash.

Tafoya spoke to News5 just four days before the crash. She was asking for the public’s help in finding the person responsible for killing her son on October 25th.  Police in Pueblo have a 17-year-old suspect in custody on a murder charge for the death of Elijah Naranjo.

RELATED

Mother of shooting victim speaks to News 5