AURORA, Colo. — A 26-year-old man was sentenced to 32 years in prison Monday for a deadly shooting in an Aurora apartment during a marijuana robbery, the 17th Judicial District Attorney's Office said.
Octavis Styles pleaded guilty in March in Adams County District Court to second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Surajadin Mohamed Ahmed on March 21, 2020.
The District Attorney's Office said Styles and co-defendant Thomas Boles went to Ahmed's apartment in the 10900 block of East 16th Avenue to buy marijuana.
After a short conversation, Ahmed went to the bathroom and closed the door behind him, and Styles and Boles began threatening the other people in the apartment with handguns, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Styles then fired three shots into the bathroom door, hitting Ahmed in the back, stomach and leg. Styles and Boles grabbed several large bags of marijuana and left the apartment, the District Attorney's Office said.
Aurora Police Department investigators identified Styles as a suspect. He was arrested in Florida in December 2020 and extradited back to Colorado.
"This defendant pulled out a gun and fired into a closed bathroom door, killing an unsuspecting victim, all because he desired to steal a bag of marijuana," said District Attorney Brian Mason. “This was a brutal, senseless killing which defies explanation.”
Styles was also sentenced to five years' parole.
Boles previously pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery - menacing victim with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
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