Inset: Victor Salazar-Guarache. Background: Colorado Topgolf where Salazar-Guarache shot two people in December 2023 (Thornton Police Department).
Surveillance video from the parking lot of a Colorado Topgolf shows an employee opening up fire on two co-workers, striking both and killing one.
Colorado Department of Corrections records show 27-year-old Victor Salazar-Guarache was sentenced to 48 years in prison for murdering 22-year-old Bryce Holden plus another 20 years for shooting another fellow employee who survived. The video shows Holden and the other employee walking toward the parking lot after finishing their shifts at the Topgolf in Thornton, a suburb of Denver, shortly before 1 a.m. on Dec. 23, 2023. Salazar-Guarache, who was sitting in his car, comes out, enters into a shooting stance and starts firing at the two men from several feet away. Holden immediately falls to the ground. The surviving victim was hit by the gunfire but is able to run away. Salazar-Guarache continues to shoot even as Holden is on the ground, the video shows.
According to an affidavit, a Lyft driver happened to be picking up a passenger from the Topgolf just as the shooting occurred. That driver told law enforcement he saw Salazar-Guarache laughing as the alleged killer returned to his vehicle.
The suspect drove away but police arrested him a few hours later. A separate video shows cops handcuffing Victor Salazar-Guarache and taking him away to the police station for an interview. There was some sort of dispute between the suspect and the victims while at work, but an exact motive was never divulged.
Salazar-Guarache pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder in September and a judge sentenced him last month.
As Law&Crime previously reported, the shooting left Holden’s family shattered.
“He was my baby,” the victim’s father, Rod Holden, told Denver-based NBC affiliate KUSA. “He was always making jokes. He would have a smirk on his face when he was sitting there razzing ya. That’s just how he was.”
Bryce Holden was teaching himself Spanish and planned to move to Barcelona within the next two years, his father said.
“Bryce had deeply rooted values,” Rod Holden told KUSA. “He was always trying to improve himself. He always tried to see the best in everybody, but if he thought you could do better, he would call you out on it. There’s a face behind the news story. There’s a soul behind the news story, and I want people to know that.”
Law&Crime’s Colin Kalmbacher and Jason Kandel contributed to this report.
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