Daniel Petty

BRIGHTON, Colo. — An Adams County District Court judge ruled Friday that prosecutors have sufficient evidence to try Cristina Wanda Sears in the shooting death of her stepmother and the serious wounding of her stepsister just days before Christmas.

In an emotional hearing that lasted more than three hours, prosecutors called several witnesses, including Sears’ son, Kenneth R. Richey, who testified in poignant detail about how the circumstances — the loss of Sears’ job, the recent death of her father, severe depression, and suicidal thoughts combined with a years-long dispute about her father’s estate — drove her to the deadly confrontation on Dec. 22.

Richey forced back tears as he recounted how he, his then-fiance Shanyndoah Bowen, and Joy Pigon, then 49, the stepsister, were posing for pre-wedding photos and preparing gifts around 3:30 p.m. in their Aurora home when they heard a loud pop from the kitchen next door.

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DENVER — A man was fatally shot Thursday just yards off Denver’s popular 16th Street Mall, closing two blocks of Welton Street for two hours in the middle of a busy workday afternoon.

The unidentified man was pronounced dead at Denver Health Medical Center after suffering multiple gunshot wounds in a restaurant after an apparent altercation involving three or four people, police said.

Denver police spokeswoman Loretta Beauvais said the shooting occurred at 3:37 p.m. at Chopsticks & Sushi, a Japanese-Chinese restaurant at 1630 Welton St.

After Thursday’s shooting, police closed Welton Street to traffic between 15th and 17th streets until about 5:45 p.m. Dozens of bystanders crowded against yellow police tape to survey the scene.

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