Vidal Vigil, 24, was shot and killed on August 26, 2024, in Colorado Springs after an altercation that began in a Days Inn parking lot near Garden of the Gods Road. Vigil was in his 1973 Chevrolet Silverado with his girlfriend, Jayda Salazar, and passenger Pablo Martinez when an argument between Martinez and a man identified as Michael Gilliam escalated into both men throwing rocks. Gilliam left but then followed Vigil’s truck in a 2001 Mercury Grand Marquis, drove erratically, forced the truck to stop, reversed and fired multiple shots into the Silverado. Vigil was struck at least once; the truck then crashed into a tree on North Chestnut Street. Police arrived around 11:42 AM and found Vigil deceased in the vehicle.

The shooting was counted as Colorado Springs’s 30th homicide that year. Salazar and Martinez identified Michael Gilliam as the shooter, and Gilliam was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder. Vigil’s family described him as a loving, caring person and a devoted father to his four-year-old daughter; they used tools belonging to Vigil’s late father to make a casing for his urn.

If anyone witnessed the confrontation or the vehicle that followed the Silverado, please come forward with information.