Man convicted of shooting teens, killing 1, who got into illegal backyard marijuana grow

DENVER – The man accused of shooting two teenagers, killing one, who had gotten into his illegal backyard marijuana grow was found guilty of murder and other charges Monday.

A Denver jury found Keith Hammock, 49, guilty of second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault with a deadly weapon, one count of manufacturing marijuana and one count of cultivation of marijuana.

He’d originally faced a first-degree murder charge, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser second-degree murder charge.

A 15-year-old boy died after being shot by Hammock, while a 14-year-old was shot and possibly paralyzed, according to police. They had broken into Hammock’s backyard and gotten into his “mature” marijuana plants, according to police.

The shooting happened near High Street and 28^th Avenue last October, and the district attorney said at the time Hammock had been implicated in a similar shooting that happened a year earlier.

Hammock had originally told officers that he’d only seen a motion-activated light turn on in the backyard, but they later found guns inside his home—one that was at a vantage point where he could have shot the teens.

Hammock will be sentenced on Oct. 4.