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Two teens charged with murder for allegedly gang-related drive-by shooting in West Valley City

Two 16-year-old boys were charged with murder in 3rd District Court on Tuesday over the Jan. 18 slaying of a 15-year-old boy and a dog.

The boys were arrested last week and placed in a juvenile detention facility.

According to a probable cause statement, Robert Theron Danhauer and Emanuel Angel Moreno-Vallejo saw the 15-year-old and his passengers on Bangerter Highway and identified them as members of a rival gang.

The boys are charged as adults with murder, a first-degree felony, and with obstructing justice. They are charged with four second-degree-felony counts of discharging a firearm and a count each of theft and illegal possession of a firearm. They both have bail set at $1 million.

Moreno-Vallejo told police that he wanted to confront the occupants of the minivan to get “street credit” with the members of his own gang. With Danhauer driving Moreno-Vallejo’s father’s sedan, the two gave chase.

Irving Alexis Chuba, who was driving the minivan, tried to speed away, weaving through traffic and running red lights, the document says, but Danhauer stayed close and traffic forced Chuba to slow down near 4100 South Bangerter.

The car pulled up next to the van, the statement says, and Moreno-Vallejo admitted to firing several shots into the van with a stolen .40-caliber pistol.

The two watched as the van veered into an oncoming car and then into a tree.

When police arrived, they found five bullet casings on the roadway. Chuba suffered a gunshot wound to his chest and died at the scene. A Chihuahua sitting on one of Chuba’s passenger’s laps was also shot and killed.

Police say they received a tip that Moreno-Vallejo may have been involved. After staking out his house, officers saw that Moreno-Vallejo and Danhauer often drove Moreno-Vallejo’s father’s sedan.

The boys admitted to their role in the killing, according to the document.

Moreno-Vallejo said he gave Danhauer the gun to hide. Police found the gun, reported stolen from Tooele County in 2017, in Danhauer’s closet

After the shooting, the boys picked up a friend and drove back past the scene.

“I shot that boy,” Moreno-Vallejo said to the friend, according to the probable cause statement.