A Denver man will spend the next 35 years in prison for gunning down 31-year-old Killian Flynn outside a homeless shelter in 2024. Julian Higgins was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in Flynn's death, closing out a case that stretched back more than two years.
Flynn was shot and killed on July 1, 2024, outside the Denver Rescue Mission shelter in the 4600 block of East 48th Avenue, according to the Denver Gazette. Higgins pleaded guilty to second-degree murder this week in connection with the killing, and District Judge Demetria Trujillo handed down the 35-year prison sentence on Friday.
Prosecutors and DA Weigh In
The case was prosecuted by Chief Deputy DA Kate Horton and Associate Deputy DA Makayla Samour, per the same report. Denver District Attorney John Walsh said Higgins' actions caused Flynn's death, and he said he hoped the sentence would give those who knew and loved Flynn “a measure of comfort and a sense that justice has been served.”
The Denver District Attorney's Office had previously reported Higgins' guilty plea in a news release, and the sentencing this week marks the formal conclusion of the prosecution. No further details about the circumstances surrounding the shooting were included in the available reporting.
Part of a String of Long Sentences in Denver
Higgins' 35-year term lands in the middle of a run of lengthy second-degree murder sentences handed down across the Denver area recently. A teenager was sentenced to 35 years in prison for a fatal 2024 shooting in Aurora after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, according to Denver7. Elsewhere, Ernest Cunningham received a 42-year sentence for second-degree murder after being convicted of killing a 23-year-old, the Denver Gazette separately reported.
Other recent Denver-area cases have drawn even steeper sentences. Clemente Flores-Hernandez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree assault and was sentenced in a case announced by the Denver District Attorney. In a case tied to a 2025 deadly shooting in Denver, Augustine Vega was convicted of second-degree murder, aggravated robbery and burglary, among other charges, and will spend more than seven decades in prison, according to KKTV. A separate guilty plea in a Jefferson Park shooting carried a potential sentence of up to 38 years, according to The Denver Post.
