Jeffco Sheriff’s Office investigating rock-throwing incidents

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is investigating six incidents in which someone threw rocks at moving vehicles in July and August.

All the vehicles were damaged, but nobody was injured, according to a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office news release.

The incidents occurred along West Quincy Avenue, West Belleview Avenue, West Peakview Avenue, West Bowles Avenue and West Coalmine Avenue.

The suspect vehicle has been described as a smaller, four-door sedan.

The rocks were thrown late at night or early in the morning between July 19 and August in southern unincorporated Jefferson County.

The person who threw the rocks was in a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction, officials said.

In one instance, the rock hit the hood of a car, bounced into the windshield and shattered it, the sheriff’s office said. The rest of the vehicles experienced damage to the hoods, grills and sides.

The Sheriff’s Office increased patrols in the area to locate the suspect.

A spree of rock-throwing attacks on suburban Denver drivers last year resulted in the death of 20-year-old Alexa Bartell.

Bartell was killed in April 2023 after a rock crashed through her windshield as she drove northbound on Indiana Street in unincorporated Jefferson County.

Three 18-year-olds — Joseph Koenig, Zachary Kwak and Nicholas Karol-Chik were arrested and accused of throwing landscaping rocks at seven vehicles in Jefferson and Boulder counties that evening, including the rock that killed Bartell.

Kwak, 19, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault, second-degree assault and criminal attempt to commit second-degree assault as part of a plea deal in May.

Karol-Chik, 19, pleaded guilty in May to charges of second-degree murder and criminal attempt to commit first-degree murder, as well as a crime of violence sentence-enhancer.

Koenig’s trial has been delayed amid an order for a mental health evaluation as his defense claims the teen’s ADHD contributed to the killing.