This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Criminal charges have been filed against three teenage boys accused in a string of violent robberies in Salt Lake County, including a holdup at a Taylorsville gas station in which the clerk was shot and wounded.
Two 17-year-old boys were charged in 3rd District Juvenile Court with four counts of first-degree felony aggravated robbery, according to court records. Charges were also filed against a 16-year-old boy, but they have not been made public, as there is a motion pending by defense attorneys to seal his records.
Prior to the Jan. 23 shooting at an Exxon station store near 2187 W. 4700 South, the three boys are accused of robbing three other convenience stores over a two-day period. Each time, one of the teens brandished a gun and robbed the store of money and, at one location, flavored cigars, according to charging documents. The teens are accused of robbing a Shell Station at 4018 W. 4100 South, a 7-Eleven store at 5400 W. 4100 South and a Shell Station at 7210 W. 3500 South.
Some of the convenience store clerks reported to police that the trio wore bandanas and gloves, and ordered them to the ground and demanded that they not look up. One reported that he was told if he looked up, the gunman would "smear my brains across the floor," according to charging documents.
Shots were not fired during the first three robberies, according to charging documents. But at the Exxon station store, the 16-year-old boy allegedly fired a gun and hit the 21-year-old male clerk twice. That boy later told investigators that he fired his weapon because the clerk "thought it was a game and wasn't taking them seriously."
The clerk initially was in critical condition, but his condition had been upgraded to fair, police said last week.
The suspects were arrested last week, and have been booked into the Salt Lake County Youth Detention Center.
UPD Detective Ken Hansen has said it appears the robberies were "both drug- and gang-involved."