A 34-year-old Loveland man has been arrested in connection to the fatal Oct. 13 shooting of a mail carrier in a southwest Longmont neighborhood.
Longmont Police and U.S. Postal Inspection Service arrested Andrew James “AJ” Ritchie, late Tuesday night on a charge of complicity to commit first-degree murder, related to the shooting of 33-year-old Jason Schaefer, according to a Longmont Police news release. Ritchie was later transported to the Boulder County Jail.
Ritchie, a federal corrections officer, was romantically involved with 26-year-old Devan Rebecca Schreiner, who is facing a first-degree murder charge related to Schaefer's death, according to Channel 9 News. The Federal Correctional Institute in Englewood confirmed to Channel 9 that Ritchie has been employed as correctional officer at the facility since 2016.
Police found Schaefer about 12:30 p.m., at Renaissance Drive and Heatherhill Street, a victim of multiple gunshot wounds, including one in the face, according to an arrest affidavit. Schaefer was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police arrested Schreiner later on Oct. 13. She was formally charged with first-degree murder on Tuesday in Boulder District Court. She faces a Jan. 10 preliminary hearing.
Schaefer and Schreiner had been involved in a visitation dispute involving their son, according to the affidavit.
“The arrest of the second suspect in Mr. Schaefer’s homicide demonstrates our collective commitment to leaving no stone unturned in this investigation and to pursue justice to the fullest extent of the law,” said Ruth Mendonca, Inspector in Charge of the Denver Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, in the news release.
During a police interview, Ritchie admitted he was in Longmont the morning of the shooting and that when he dropped Schreiner off at work, she said "today is the day" and "I have everything I need," according to the affidavit obtained by Channel 9.
Schreiner had previously talked about killing Schaefer several times but Ritchie said he had been able to "talk her down," Channel 9 stated. On the morning of the shooting, he said he spoke with Schreiner a couple of times trying to convince her not to go through with it, the station states.
He told police that he was following along with Schaefer's route that morning to potentially confront Schreiner if she showed up, the station states. Ritchie said he then drove by the victim and had a 15-second conversation with him in which he said he told Schaefer something to the effect of "you are pushing Devan over the line" and you "need to watch our for her," Channel 9 said.
Schaefer told Ritchie that "I'm not afraid of that [expletive]."
Ritchie said at that point, he felt he had "done his job" and went home, Channel 9 said, citing the affidavit.
Any witnesses or local residents who may have information regarding this case are asked to contact Longmont Police Services at 303-651-8501.
