3 charged in carjacking that killed Iraqi immigrant

Heather Willard
·2 min read

DENVER (KDVR) — Charges have been filed against three young people suspected in a deadly carjacking in Arapahoe County, all of whom were juveniles at the time of the crime.

Two teenage suspects will be tried as adults in the Sept. 19, 2023, homicide, when 23-year-old Ahmed Zainuldeen was shot and killed at an apartment complex in Arapahoe County. A third suspect will be tried as a juvenile.

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Raydon Collins, 18, and Dhaevontae Rogers-Broadus, 17, were each given a cash-only bond of $1 million in the case. Identifying information about juvenile suspects is not publicly released, nor is information about their cases.

Zainuldeen, an Iraqi immigrant in the U.S. since 2022, was at an apartment complex at East Harvard Avenue and Quebec Street at about 10 p.m. that Tuesday when four people approached his 2012 silver Hyundai Sonata, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said at the time. According to Zainuldeen’s brother, he saw his car being stolen and ran to stop them.

That’s when Zainuldeen was shot and killed, then the suspects allegedly took off in his car.

  • Ahmed Zainuldeen
    Ahmed Zainuldeen was shot and killed by carjackers in Arapahoe County on Sept. 19, 2023. His family said they had just moved to Denver from Iraq a year earlier in search of a better life. (Mahmood Zainuldeen)
  • Ahmed Zainuldeen, 23, was learning English, started a new a job and met new people before he was shot and killed in a carjacking on Tuesday. (Anna Hanel)
    Ahmed Zainuldeen, 23, was learning English, started a new a job and met new people before he was shot and killed in a carjacking on Tuesday. (Anna Hanel)

3 charged in Iraqi immigrant’s killing

Collins and Rogers-Broadus are each facing charges of:

  • First-degree murder after deliberation

  • First-degree murder with extreme indifference

  • Second-degree murder

  • Aggravated robbery involving a strike, weapon or wound

  • Aggravated robbery, confederate menace with a weapon

  • Violent crime causing death or serious bodily injury

  • Violent crime using a weapon

The juvenile is facing charges of:

  • First-degree murder after deliberation

  • First-degree murder with extreme indifference

  • Second-degree murder

  • Aggravated robbery involving strike, wound or weapon

  • Violent juvenile offender – caused death or serious bodily injury

  • Violent juvenile offender – used weapon

  • Aggravated juvenile offender – committed a class 1 or 2 felony

A caseworker for Zainuldeen spoke to FOX31 shortly after his death. The caseworker explained that he was an Iraqi immigrant who had only been in the U.S. since November 2022.

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Anna Hanel, a caseworker for the African Community Center, told FOX31 she had known the Zainuldeen family for some time. The family had spent years living in Egypt, jumping through bureaucratic hoops in search of reaching America, having left Iraq because of the violence.

“These are refugees who came here to seek freedom from violence and persecution,” Hanel said at the time.

Rogers-Broadus is scheduled to appear in court for a status conference on June 3. Collins is scheduled to appear for arraignment on June 4.

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