Teens accused of shooting sleeping Ogden woman appear in adult court

Two 16-year-old boys charged with fatally shooting a sleeping Ogden woman made initial appearances in adult court on Wednesday.

Daniel G. Garcia and Tre’von Jordan Zamora, both of Ogden, are charged with first-degree felony murder for the shooting death of 47-year-old Maria Sanchez.

Sanchez was asleep in her home in the early hours of Sunday morning when Garcia and Zamora fired at least seven rounds into the residence from outside her house, charges state. She was struck in the head and later died at the hospital.

Both teens are being held without bail at youth detention facilities.

Garcia, who is represented by an attorney, is scheduled for a bail hearing on Aug. 30 and a scheduling hearing on Sept. 20.

Zamora is to appear in court again on Sept. 6 regarding the status of an attorney to represent him, the court docket shows.

Minutes after the shooting, a person called 911 reporting the teens and a third man in his backyard.

The third person was an adult who was questioned and cleared in the shooting case, Ogden police Capt. Danielle Croyle said last week. He was, however, detained in relation to a different case, Croyle said.

The man told police that Zamora and Garcia had shot at the home, charges state, though he and the teens would not disclose the reason they had targeted the home.

However, it appeared that Sanchez was not the intended target, Croyle said. The teens either a mistook Sanchez for someone else or mistook the home for another person’s house, the captain said.

Zamora told police that Garcia shot at the residence, and messages on Zamora’s cellphone showed he had been talking about the shooting and needed a ride to get away from the scene, charges say. One of the messages sent by Zamora said, “I did that,” according to charges.

“Immediately” after the shooting, Zamora deleted all messages, phone calls and internet searches, charges state. In Zamora’s home, police found drug paraphernalia, a sawed-off shotgun and ammunition that matched casings found at the scene of the shooting.

Garcia told police in an interview that he, Zamora and the other man discussed “shooting up the house,” and that he and Zamora were the shooters. Garcia said he shot six rounds at the house with a .22-caliber revolver, charges state, and that Zamora used a 9 mm handgun.

Garcia told detectives he’d hidden his gun on Doxey Street and that he’d hidden his clothing in a residential garbage can, charges state. But police who searched the area did not find Garcia’s clothing or his revolver.

In addition to the murder charge, both teens are charged with second-degree felony obstructing justice.  Zamora also is charged with third-degree felony possession or use of a firearm by a restricted person and class B misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.