Charles Valentino LobatoCOLORADO SPRINGS – The man who shot and killed Shawnee Tapia outside a Colorado Springs liquor store in early 2018 will soon be headed to prison for reckless manslaughter.
Charles Valentino Lobato, age 31, pled guilty Monday morning to the class 4 felony. He’ll be back in court in late June to hear his sentence, which ranges between 4 to 8 years in prison.
While Colorado Springs Police identified a suspect early on in the investigation, an arrest did not happen until September 2018 when Lobato, 31, was captured in Castle Rock.
During the months since Tapia’s death, Lobato was involved in a shootout with law enforcement in Costilla County in April.
Police said he sped out of the area to escape the shootout and eluded police for several months. The Colorado Springs Police Department, EPC Sheriff’s Office Metro Fugitive Unit and the U.S. Marshals Violent Offender Task Force worked to conduct hours worth of surveillance in multiple attempts to find Lobato.
With help from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Lobato was found at a hotel in the 500 block of Genoa Way and taken into custody without incident.
Lobato was charged with first-degree murder.
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