A Salt Lake City man faces a first-degree felony murder charge in connection with the shooting death outside a West Valley City auto body shop in late June.
Edwin Fong Carrillo, 40, was also charged Monday in 3rd District Court with improperly possessing a weapon and obstructing justice, both second-degree felonies, related to the June 22 shooting in a parking lot near 1430 W. 3500 South, court documents say.
West Valley City police reportedly found Abdulraheem Al-Hisnawi, 49, sitting on the ground in a pool of blood and shot in the stomach but still conscious just after 7 p.m., after they responded to reports of a shooting at that location. Al-Hisnawi was taken to a local hospital and was pronounced dead about 90 minutes later.
Carrillo, who was arrested four days later at a Midvale motel, reportedly told police under questioning that Al-Hisnawi had confronted him in the parking lot, “became upset with him” and that they started shoving each other, charging documents indicate.
By Carrillo’s account, he pulled the gun from his waistband and Al-Hisnawi grabbed the weapon during the altercation, documents said.
Al-Hisnawi pushed Carrillo to the ground, the charges say, and Carrillo, who told officers “he felt that Al-Hisnawi was coming at him,” allegedly fired the gun once. “Al-Hisnawi fell to the ground and Carrillo stood up and kicked Al-Hisnawi before running away,” documents say.
A witness who told police he operated the West Valley City auto shop said Carrillo’s employment had been terminated recently.
Carrillo, who according to documents goes by the nickname “Shorty,” gave conflicting accounts about what happened to the weapon, saying at one point he had broken it into pieces with a hammer and disposed of them. In another account, charging documents say, he “later changed his story and stated that he fell asleep and when he woke up the gun was gone.”
A woman who had come to Carrillo’s aid in procuring the Midvale motel room later recovered the weapon and gave it to police detectives after being interviewed in connection with the shooting, documents say.
Court records indicate Carrillo has an extensive criminal history extending back to 2002, including convictions for attempted aggravated assault, assault by a prisoner, burglary, receiving stolen property and several drug-related crimes.
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