Salt Lake City taxi driver John Adams was dropping off a passenger early on April 6, 1993, when the passenger drew a pistol and shot him in the head.

The shots paralyzed Adams on one half of his body, and at least one bullet remained in his skull years after the shooting.

Although his sister said Adams spent the intervening years alert and living in relative happiness in a Bountiful nursing home, police and medical examiners linked Adams' April 14, 2008, death from pneumonia at the age of 79 to the gunshot wounds he suffered 15 years before.

"That was not right what [the assailant] did," said Marva Goede, Adams' sister. "I'm sure John did him no harm."

Adams became one of Utah's 42 homicide victims in 2008 . The figure marks the lowest total in at least five years.

Salt Lake City saw the most violence, with 13 homicides in 2008 -- a year in which murders with ties to area gangs both stunned and rallied the community.

Wally Knapton, 49, and 7-year-old Maria Del Carmen Menchaca both died in shootings in the Glendale neighborhood. Police say Knapton was shot by two gang members during a robbery at the Family Dollar store he managed. Maria was an unintended victim, police say, struck by a bullet in a gang-related drive-by shooting.

The deaths prompted Glendale residents and anti-gang advocates to organize and call for more police and community support to curb violence; politicians formed city and state task forces to develop ways to combat gang violence.

Salt Lake City police Chief Chris Burbank said that since the shootings, his department has used more periodic police surges in Glendale to arrest suspects and prevent violence before it escalates.

Gang activity has "never been out of our minds," Burbank said. "We have been very fortunate that gang crime has not been out of control in our city."

Many Utahns might long remember the horrifying details of the high-profile murder of Kristy Ragsdale, whose estranged husband shot her dead in the busy parking lot of an LDS chapel in Lehi with her mother as a witness to the slaying.

The death brought the number of domestic-violence-related homicides in 2008 to 13, including those killed by cohabitants, in dating relationships or otherwise in connection with a domestic relationship, according to reports by the Utah Domestic Violence Council. That figure is up from 8 in 2007.

The youngest homicide victim of the year was 2-month-old David Swapp Jr. Ogden police have accused his father of suffocating him. The father has pleaded not guilty to first-degree felony murder charges. The oldest victim: Robert Ide, 80, of New Harmony. Police say his wife killed Ide, then herself.

At least a handful of homicides remain a mystery. The only Salt Lake City homicide of 2008 without a suspect is the case of Jonathan Mardoniz, who was found stabbed to death in his apartment.

Damiana Castillo, 57, was found strangled in her West Valley City apartment. There were no signs of forced entry and no arrests have been made.

In one of the final homicides of 2008, Noemi Rodriguez was found dead in a Huntsville cemetery. Her boyfriend, Gutberto Heras-Corrales, has been charged with arson for allegedly setting Rodriguez's home on fire days earlier, but prosecutors have not charged anyone in Rodriguez's death.

Although Adams suffered his wounds in 1993, Salt Lake City police consider him to be a 2008 homicide victim. Adams was partially paralyzed as a result of the gunshots, Goede said, and needed the use of a wheelchair.

Adams did not talk much about the shooting or his injuries, Goede said, but Adams did not talk much at all. Goede said he left his family near Spokane, Wash., years earlier and moved to Utah. He did not often call or write, but Goede said she never detected her brother was bitter or angry about the injuries.

Days after the shooting, prosecutors charged then-17-year-old Mario J. Ramirez Jr. with attempted murder and robbery. Court documents say Ramirez asked an acquaintance to call him a taxi. Adams arrived and Ramirez took a ride to 1000 South and 400 East.

One witness reported hearing popping sounds while another witness said he saw Adams on the ground and someone going through his pockets, according to court documents.

Adams was shot during a surge in gang violence in Salt Lake City, and police at the time said they suspected that Adams' shooter was an aspiring gang member trying to advance in the organization.

However, Salt Lake City police spokeswoman Lara Jones in a recent interview said detectives do not think the shooting was gang-related. Ramirez has never been captured.

ncarlisle@sltrib.com