Three Colorado teens in court, charged with murder, assault, after throwing giant landscaping rocks at cars – one went through the windshield and killed a 20-year-old female driver, two other motorists were injured by rocks
Three Colorado teens appear in court, Wednesday, charged with fatally throwing giant landscaping rock through windshield of a motorist on as she drove her car on April 19 in the Denver suburb of Arvada
Nicholas ‘Mitch’ Karol-Chik, Joseph Koenig and Zachary Kwak, all 18, faced a judge in Jefferson County, Colorado, over the April 19 murder of Alexa Bartell, 20
Trio have already been charged with crimes including first-degree murder with extreme indifference, and now face additional counts of attempted first-degree murder, assault and attempted assault
Alexa Bartell, 20, was returning from work around 10:45 p.m. when the large rock sailed through her window shield and fatally struck her
The suspects doubled back and took photo of the fatal wreck which they kept as s memento
Two other drivers suffered minor injuries after the trio threw rocks at six more cars

Alexa Bartell, 20, was returning from work around 10:45 p.m. when the large rock sailed through her window shield and fatally struck her
Three teenage boys from Denver, Colorado, appeared in court Wednesday accused of killing a 20 year-old woman by hurling a rock through the windshield of her car.
The suspects – Nicholas ‘Mitch’ Karol-Chik, Joseph Koenig and Zachary Kwak – all 18-year-old high school students, appeared before district court judge Christopher C. Zenisek during an arraignment in Jefferson County district court in Golden Gate.
They defendants had been earlier charged with first-degree murder in the the death of 20-year-old female motorist, Alexa Bartell on April 19 in Arvada, a suburb of Denver..
In the addition to the murder charge, the trio now face additional counts of assault and attempted assault.

Alexa Bartell was driving the Chevy Spark [photo] when a rock came crashing through the front windshield. She was killed in the incident. She had been on the phone with a friend who used the GPS to track her down and found her dead
The defendants each face one count of first-degree murder with extreme indifference, six counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree assault and three counts of attempted second-degree assault.
The extreme indifference charge alleges the men knowingly created a “grave risk of death,” without caring who was injured or killed, resulting in Bartell’s death.
Those charges relate to other incidents of rocks being hurled resulting in damages to more vehicles and causing injury to motorists, for which prosecutors claim the defendants were also responsible.

Photo reveals the extent of the damage caused to Bartell’s car during the rock throwing attack by the high school trio of Karol-Chik, Koenig and Kwak on evening of April 19
At Wednesday’s arraignment Karol-Chik, Koenig and Kwak sat next to each other in the dock – the first time they’ve seen each other since being arrested over the killing of Alexa, which saw a huge rock hurled through the windshield of her yellow Chevy Spark.
According to the Jefferson County Sheriff´s Office, Alexa Bartell was talking on the phone with a friend while driving in her yellow Chevy Spark at 10:45pm on April 19 in Arvada, Suburban Denver, when she was hit by the rock.
After the call went silent, the friend tracked Bartell’s location with a phone app, drove to her, and found the woman dead in her car, which had crashed into a field.
The defendants later returned to the wreck to take a photo of the car as a ‘memento’, Karol-Chik told investigators when questioned.
They group it is alleged, also attacked six other cars in Arvada on April 19, First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King announced.

Nicholas ‘Mitch’ Karol-Chik, Zachary Kwak, and Joseph Koenig, all 18, hard been charged with crimes including first-degree murder, and now face additional counts of assault and attempted assault
During a brief afternoon court hearing, the lawyers all declined to have the charges read.
Karol-Chik told investigators that Koenig slowed down so Kwak could get a photo of Bartell’s car after it crashed into a field. He said all three got excited every time they hit a car with landscaping rocks taken from a Walmart parking lot, but acknowledged he felt ‘a hint of guilt’ passing by her car, according to court documents.
Kwak said he took the photo because he thought that Karol-Chik or Koenig would want to have a ‘memento’ of what had happened, according to the arrest affidavits.
He reportedly told the others: ‘We have to go back and see that.’

Murder suspect Nicholas ‘Mitch’ Karol-Chik sitting through his arraignment in Jefferson County district court in Golden, Colorado, on Wednesday

Joseph Koenig listens listens to district court judge Christopher C. Zenisek during an arraignment on Wednesday. He was described by a friend as someone who likes creating ‘chaos’ and would often act in a destructive manner

Zachary Kwak listens in court during an arraignment on Wednesday. During his police interview Karol-Chik claimed that Kwak threw the rock that killed Bartell. The rock throwing trio were meeting for the first time since their arrest
During interviews with police, two men accused each other of throwing the fatal rock. Karol-Chik claims Kwak threw the rock that killed Bartell.
Karol-Chik told investigators with the Jefferson County Sheriff´s Office that he and Koenig had thrown rocks and even a statue at passing cars on at least 10 other days before Bartell was killed. Kwak heard about what they had been doing and asked to join them, according to Karol-Chik’s account in the affidavits.
Karol-Chik and Kwak offered different accounts about who threw the fatal rock.
Koenig did not speak to investigators after he was arrested, according to the arrest affidavits.
‘This was an extremely reckless and irresponsible situation that the defendant was involved in that, unfortunately, cost the life of a very innocent and very young woman in this case,’ Prosecutor Padraic Emerine said.
A friend of the trio told police he’d watched them several hours earlier as they loaded a truck with landscaping rocks taken from a Walmart parking lot. The friend claimed the three boys picked up ‘as many as they could carry’.
He said he knew ‘something bad was going to happen’ so asked Koenig, Karol-Chik and Kwak to take him home.

After the attack which killed Bartell, it is alleged that Kwak [photo], told the others: ‘We have to go back and see that.’ He then took a photo of the car, which had careered of the road, as a ‘memento’ for Karol-Chik
The three alleged killers then patrolled roads in the area and searched for passing cars to target.
Kwak said they would use ‘marine terms’ when launching the rocks, saying: ‘Mitch would say things like, ‘contact left,’ before Joseph would throw the rock at a car on the left side of theirs.’
He said the rock which killed Bartell made a ‘very loud noise… like a rail gun’ when it made contact with her windshield.
Koenig was described by a friend as someone who likes creating ‘chaos’ and would often act in a destructive manner.
‘Joseph and Mitch were talking about them now being ‘blood brothers’ and they could never speak of the incident,’ Kwak added.
The three met up the following day to ‘get their stories straight’.
They had thrown rocks at vehicles on about ten occasions since February. Six other cars were damaged and two more drivers were injured on the night Bartell was killed.
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