(Examiner) — Police say a 46-year-old man is in custody in the weekend fatal shooting of a convenience store clerk in south Denver.
Dale Wayne Baylis was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder Wednesday evening outside his home. He is suspected of killing 28-year-old Natnael Mulugeta, an immigrant from Ethiopia.
The shooting happened at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday at a 7-Eleven store near Baylis’ home. Officers say they arrived to find the store empty. They later found Mulugeta in a nearby alley with a gunshot wound to his chest.
Mulugeta was taken to a hospital, where he died about two hours later.
Friends, Family Remember Natnael
DENVER (CBS4) — Denver police say they’re following up on tips that could help solve the murder of a 7-Eleven clerk over the weekend.
Friends and family remembered 27-year-old Natnael Mulugeta Wednesday. He was an immigrant from Ethiopia.
Mulugeta and his younger sister came to Colorado to work and study. He was a clerk at the 7-Eleven located at 567 East Louisiana in Denver. His sister is a full-time college student. She is smart, articulate, but was unable to speak of the brother she adored Wednesday afternoon.
There is a language barrier, but the tears spoke clearly about the loss of a young man called “Natchee.”
“He was a wonderful young man, very quiet, very polite and loving,” family friend Yen Kebede said.
The small, tight community of Ethiopians has a single question — why?
“He hasn’t done anything wrong, so somebody or someone did him wrong,” Kebede said.
This week Natchee’s sister will take his body back to Ethiopia, to their parents. Because of Ethiopian tradition, the parents have not yet been told of Natchee’s death — not until the body arrives back in their country.
The Ethiopians aren’t bitter about what happened in their adopted homeland. They are grateful to a community that has adopted them. The horror, they say, will be buried Wednesday, so they can focus on living.
Denver police say there was a surveillance camera at the time of the shooting. Police have not released any video.
Additional Resources
The local Ethiopian community is setting up a fund to help the sister of murder victim Natnael Mulugeta. CBS4 is donating $1,000 as part of the Pay It Forward program. You can make donations at any Wells Fargo bank. Mention Natnael Mulugeta’s name as the fund.
Sister of murdered 7-Eleven clerk talks; suspect in court
DENVER (9News.com) – The sister of Natnael Mulugeta says she takes comfort in the fact that police arrested a suspect in her brother’s murder.
“My brother was just everything to me, he was my only brother too,” said Belen Mulugeta. “We were very close.”
“I hope we will get justice,” Mulugeta told 9Wants to Know.
A judge ordered Dale Wayne Baylis, 46, to be held without bond when Baylis appeared in Denver County Court Thursday. Baylis is being held on a first degree murder complaint.
Natnael Mulugeta, a 27-year-old Ethiopian immigrant, died after being shot by a rifle at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday while working alone at the convenience store at Louisiana Avenue and Pearl Street. He managed to crawl to the alley and call for help. That’s where police found him.
He was rushed to Denver Health Medical Center where he died about two hours later.
Mulugeta and her brother moved to the United States in 1999, she told 9NEWS.
“Myself and my family are very, very glad that they did arrest a suspect and we hope that it is the right person,” Belen Mulugeta said.
“Even if it wasn’t my brother, a person like that should not be walking on the street,” she said.
Belen Mulugeta boarded a flight from Denver to Washington, DC with her brother’s body Thursday afternoon. She then planned to fly to Ethiopia.
Police say they did not use surveillance video in identifying the suspect. Immediately after the shooting, investigators say they conducted interviews and were able to develop leads.
This isn’t Baylis’ first encounter with authorities. In 2003, he was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. According to a report from the Rocky Mountain News archives, Baylis stabbed a woman in Arapahoe County. He was eventually charged and convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. The report says his mental competency was an issue in that case.
Police set up surveillance outside Baylis’ home at 1308 S. Logan Street on Wednesday before making the arrest. Baylis was injured by police dogs during the arrest.
7-Eleven spokeswoman Margaret Chabris says Mulugeta had worked at the store for five years.
On Wednesday, Mulugeta’s family held a funeral service at an Aurora church.