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- Four individuals are facing criminal charges tying them to a gang-related altercation in Herriman on Sept. 22, which resulted in gunfire and a car crash at an apartment complex.
- The incident involved a confrontation between two groups, escalating from verbal insults over claimed territory to physical violence involving a knife and a gun, culminating in shots fired at a Hyundai and a Mitsubishi crashing into a fence, according to police.
HERRIMAN — Several people are facing criminal charges in what police are calling a gang-related confrontation that culminated with shots fired and a car crash at a Herriman apartment complex in September.
Franklin Alejandro Valera, 20, of Herriman, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with shooting in the direction of a person, shooting in the direction of a vehicle and four counts of aggravated assault, second-degree felonies. The charges were filed with gang penalty enhancements.
Valera is the fifth person charged in connection with the Sept. 22 incident.
The series of events happened in an apartment complex parking lot near 5600 W. Roe Deer Lane (11800 South). Herriman police responded to a report of shots fired. Officers arrived to find a Mitsubishi crashed into a fence by the pool.
A short time later, Riverton police reported that officers had stopped a Hyundai that had bullet holes in the front windshield as well as front-end damage, charging documents state.
As detectives tried to sort out the various stories from those involved and witnesses, they learned that there was a physical confrontation between two groups that started when one group approached the other and "began to insult (them) and tell (them) this was their territory," according to the charges.
That led to a fight, during which one side made threats with a knife and another brandished a gun, witnesses told investigators. After that confrontation was finished, one group got into the Hyundai and the other into the Mitsubishi.
At some point, the Hyundai hit the rear of the Mitsubish, causing it to crash into the fence, the charges state.
According to one witness, four people got out of the Mitsubishi, including Alejandro Andres Palmar Romero, who then "fired three rounds into the windshield" of the Hyundai and then two more shots into the air, the charges allege.
"Detectives located a bullet fragment in the seam of the driver seat and bullet holes in the windshield, the frame next to the driver's seat belt, and in the back passenger seat. A deformed bullet was pulled from the seat where (one man) was seated," according to the charges. "A fragment of the bullet struck the driver in the shoulder, while the other shots hit the door frames and ricocheted into the driver side seat and rear passenger seat."
A police investigator from another agency notified detectives that some of the people involved in the Sept. 22 incident had also been involved in an undisclosed incident in their jurisdiction and had been identified as members of a gang whose origins have been traced to a prison in Venezuela. They have been called a "transnational criminal organization," court documents state.
Prosecutors say Palmar is in the United States illegally after entering through Florida. He has remained in the Salt Lake County Jail since his arrest following the shooting. Arrest warrants have been issued for the other four men charged.
On Monday, Endry Jose Villalobos Fabelo, 20, of West Jordan, was charged with three counts of aggravated assault, a second-degree felony; and three counts of threatening or using a weapon in a fight, a third-degree felony.
Jose Mariano Vitoria Valera, 21, of Herriman, was charged Monday with three counts of aggravated assault, a second-degree felony; and two counts of threatening or using a weapon in a fight, a third-degree felony.
In September, Palmar, 19, of Herriman, was charged with shooting in the direction of a person causing injury and being a restricted person in possession of a gun, second-degree felonies; two counts of shooting in the direction of a vehicle and two counts of aggravated assault, third-degree felonies.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Henry Camejo, 21, of Riverton, was charged with aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.
All of the charges against each person are also subject to gang enhancement penalties if they're convicted.
Court documents also list another man, age 19, as a codefendant, but as of Wednesday formal charges had not been filed against him.
