Last Wednesday, three Colorado teens were charged with murder after throwing landscaping rocks at multiple drivers, leaving one motorist dead.
20-year-old Alexa Bartell was on the phone with a friend while driving on Wednesday night when the rock smashed through her windshield, causing her vehicle to swerve off the road and crash into a field. The friend she had been on the phone with tracked Bartell’s location once the line went dead and found the victim dead at the scene.
The local sheriff’s office that responded to the crash determined that Bartell was killed by the rock, and not the crash. The heavy rock smashed through her windshield and fatally struck her. There were two other drivers throughout the attacks that suffered from minor injuries as well as numerous other vehicles likely damaged. One driver said the rock hitting his car “sounded like a shotgun.”
Three 18-year-old men were arrested and charged with the murder of Bartell. Investigators used mobile device forensics and tips from the public to identify Joseph Koenig, Nicholas “Mitch” Karol-Chik and Zachary Kwak as the three attackers. All three of the teens are suspected of throwing the rocks, but officials say they are unsure of who the leader of the group is. At this rate, whoever’s idea it was hardly matters, each one of them faces first-degree murder charges and have the possibility of getting more charges added on.