Octavis Styles Sent To Prison For Firing Fatal Gunshots Through Bathroom Door During Pot Heist

BRIGHTON, Colo. (CBS4) -- Octavis Styles was sentenced Monday to 32 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for the three shots he fired from a handgun during a March 2020 marijuana deal in Aurora.

A press release from the 17th Judicial District Attorney's Office stated that Styles and a companion, Thomas Boles, entered the East 16th Avenue apartment. They intended to purchase pot. Inside, they had a short conversation with apartment resident Surajadin Ahmed, 22.

Ahmed then excused himself and entered a bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Not long after, Styles and Boles pulled out handguns, according to the DA's Office, and threatened the other people in the apartment.

Styles fired three shots through the bathroom door before he and Boles grabbed several large bags of marijuana and ran from the apartment.

Ahmed was hit in the back, stomach and leg. He died at a local hospital.

"This was a brutal, senseless killing which defies explanation," said District Attorney Brian Mason.

Styles was arrested for the murder nine months later in Florida. He case was headed to trial, but Styles pleaded guilty to 2nd Degree Murder in March. Prosecutors, in exchange, dropped the 1st Degree Murder charge along with aggravated robbery and felony menacing counts.

Boles, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated robbery and was sentenced a year ago to 19 years in the DOC. Before he goes to the state prison system, however, the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office has charged him with four counts of aggravated robbery from a different 2020 incident in south Aurora. He has a court date in June.