Samuel Birch Charged With Murder, Robbery In Fatal Shooting Of Centennial Gas Station Clerk On Thanksgiving
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - Samuel Birch appeared before a judge on Wednesday, charged with murder and robbery in the fatal shooting of a Centennial gas station clerk on Thanksgiving. The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office arrested the 31-year-old on Friday following numerous tips from the public.
Investigators say Birch walked into the Valero Gas station at South Quebec Street and East County Line Road and asked for a carton of cigarettes. As the clerk rang up the order, Birch is accused of pulling out a revolver and demanding cash from the register.
"I need everything in the register too, though. Dude, it's going to be you, your stomach or the money. Put everything in the bag. All of it, all of it right now. I can shoot you when I leave or I can shoot you now," the suspect said to the clerk, according to court documents.
When the clerk handed over $226.96 and 10 packs of cigarettes in a plastic bag, the suspect shot him in the stomach. The clerk, identified as 24-year-old Mauricio Omar Perez, died at the hospital while in surgery.
Investigators said the crime appears to be related to an earlier robbery on Thanksgiving at a Conoco gas station at East Arapahoe Road and South Galena Street. In that robbery, deputies said the suspect was carrying a similar revolver and fired a shot into the ceiling after taking money from the store's cash register drawer.
Birch faces several charges including first-degree murder, aggravated robbery, tampering with physical evidence, possession of a weapon by a previous offender, carrying a concealed weapon and theft. He is being held without bond with another court appearance scheduled for next Tuesday.
