Months after a teen was arrested and charged for his role in the drive-by shooting death of a 17-year-old boy in front of his Magna home last fall, police say they are still searching for others who may have fired the fatal shot.
Javier Saldana-Ibarra, of Woods Cross, was charged in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony murder for allegedly driving fellow gang members to a Magna home for the Aug. 19 shooting of William Ryan.
Though Saldana-Ibarra was 17 at the time of the shooting, charges were filed in adult court, and he has since turned 18.
Saldana-Ibarra also faces one count of first-degree felony discharge of a firearm with injury and two counts of second-degree felony discharge of a firearm. Each of his charges comes with a gang enhancement.
A probable cause statement says that on Aug. 19, police were called to a residential neighborhood near 8000 West and 3400 South on a report of multiple gunshots.
There they found Ryan with a fatal gunshot wound to his head and a 19-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his foot. Ryan was a documented member of a gang, according to police.
Witnesses told police that Ryan, the 19-year-old and two others were in Ryan’s driveway when a car drove down the road toward them. One witness recognized the car and told police it belonged to Saldana-Ibarra, who was in a rival gang.
As the car got closer, it slowed down, the headlights went off and the windows rolled down, witnesses told police. A witness then said he saw muzzle flashes coming from the front and rear driver-side windows. Other witnesses told police they heard six to 10 gunshots before the car sped away.
Witnesses said four or five men were in the car, and two witnesses identified Saldana-Ibarra in a photo lineup as the driver.
Saldana-Ibarra later told police in an interview that he and three other men from his gang were in his car during the shooting. Two of his passengers had handguns and the other had a shotgun, Saldana-Ibarra told police. He thought they were going to fight with members of a rival gang, Saldana-Ibarra told police, but instead the people in his car started shooting.
At the scene, police found three .40-caliber casings and a .22-caliber casing, charges say. There were bullet holes and strikes on three parked vehicles, the wall of a garage and the wall of a shed, according to the statement. In Saldana-Ibarra’s car, officers found two more .22 cartridge casings, and a forensic exam determined they were from the same gun as the .22 casing at the shooting scene.
An autopsy determined that Ryan died of a single gunshot wound to the head, the statement says.
Unified police Lt. Brian Lohrke said this week that police are still searching for other suspects in the case. Anyone with tips on the case can call dispatch at 801-743-7000.
Saldana-Ibarra is being held at the Farmington Bay Youth Center in lieu of $1 million, cash-only bail.
A two-day evidence hearing in the case is set to begin Feb. 13.
Follow @mnoblenews