This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
West Valley City police arrested three men and a woman in connection with shooting and wounding an elderly man on the doorstep of his home last month — an attack that was apparently part of a plan to rob the victim.
The night of Sept. 27, Robert Warren and his wife had just arrived home, in the 3900 block of Meadowgate Drive (4390 South), when there was a knock at their door. Warren answered the door when he was shot several times in the face and neck, according to West Valley City police.
Warren's wife heard the shots and went to see what happened when she saw him on the floor and a male in dark clothing running away, said police Lt. Dalan Taylor. The couple had been to the symphony.
Warren, who turned 73 this month, was taken to the hospital in critical condition, according to a police news release. He is still hospitalized, but has been stabilized and is expected to survive, said department spokesperson Roxeanne Vainuku on Thursday.
Investigators found a knit cap while processing the crime scene, and the state crime lab later matched DNA on the cap to a 38-year-old suspect through the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). Police also received a tip, after disseminating the story through the media, that named the same man.
On Tuesday, detectives interviewed the man and "developed information that [he] and co-participants in the incident planned to rob Mr. Warren," according to the news release.
A jail document also states that the man confessed to his participation.
"[He said that] he and another suspect arrived at the victim's residence on foot and that [he] remained in the driveway," the jail document reads. The man added that the another suspect went to the door, and that he later heard two gunshots, at which point they both fled, according to the document.
Police booked the man into the Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder and discharge of a firearm. They also booked his 32-year-old girlfriend on suspicion of the same charges, as well as obstruction of justice, according to the news release.
The girlfriend stopped police when they were reading her Miranda rights to say that she did not want to talk to the police because she was only in the car and did not do anything, according to her booking sheet. But the boyfriend, in his interview, said that she knew the robbery was going to happen and that all of the suspects involved would split the proceeds from the robbery, the booking sheet adds.
Detectives later identified a 20-year-old man suspected of actually pulling the trigger and arrested him Wednesday at a West Valley City home. He was booked into jail on suspicion of attempted murder and felony discharge of a firearm causing bodily injury.
When the alleged shooter was advised of his Miranda rights, he said that this "was 'big' and he needed a lawyer," according to his booking sheet.
A fourth suspect, a 36-year-old man, also was arrested and booked into jail on suspicion of aggravated robbery, felony weapons possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. The fourth suspect told the police that he drove the others to the home, where two of them approached the Warren house on foot, according to his booking sheet.
"[He] claimed that he didn't know the victim had been shot until a few days later and that he was forced to participate in this crime against his will and did so out of fear of one of the other suspects," his booking sheet reads.
However, he also said that he and this suspect had known each other for a couple months, would spend time together every day, and the suspect would allegedly provide him with free methamphetamine, the booking sheet adds.
Detectives were still looking into whether the suspects and Warren knew each other, Vainuku said.
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