GREELEY – A Weld County judge recently sentenced 20-year-old Benjamin Mitich to 24 years in a Colorado state prison for fatally shooting a Cheyenne man.
Mitich was sentenced on Dec. 6 by Weld County District Court Judge Timothy Kerns for killing 21-year-old Johnathan Hayes last year.
On Feb. 4, 2023, Weld County deputies were called to a home in the 1200 block of Weld County Road 94. When deputies arrived, they found Hayes with a gunshot wound to the head, according to a news release from the Weld County district attorney.
Hayes was flown to Northern Colorado Medical Center and pronounced deceased.
Hayes’ death was a shock for his family. According to his mother, Autumn Petty, he had been in Greeley visiting friends, which was common.
“It’s just shocking to us that this happened to our family,” Petty told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Tuesday. “We (have) given so much and tried so hard to be good members of the community. … In a small town like Cheyenne, Wyoming, you don’t really think this is going to happen when your kids go to a birthday party (in Greeley).”