Two weeks after a man was shot to death in Salt Lake City, a suspect has been arrested.
The 24-year-old man has been booked into the Salt Lake County jail for investigation of murder. He is being held without bail.
On Aug. 12, Luis Melendez, 49, was found dead near a bicycle in the middle of the street at 54 E. Harrison Ave. According to a probable cause statement, a witness told police he saw three men arguing, and one of them raised a handgun, “pointed it at the victim’s head and fired.” The victim fell to the ground, and the two suspects ran.
Police obtained home security video of a man believed to be the shooter getting into a vehicle about half a block from the crime scene; the car owner said he gave the suspect a ride because he “didn’t want ‘those kind of people’ in the neighborhood.” The first suspect asked the driver to pick up his friend — the second suspect — and drive them to a convenience store at 802 South 900 West. Police later obtained security camera footage from that store, and from another business in the area of Harrison Avenue and Main Street that showed the victim and the two suspects “before, during and after the shooting”
An anonymous source pointed police toward the suspect arrested Monday, who “appeared to match” the shooter in the security footage.
According to the probable cause statement, after he was arrested the suspect told police he argued with Melendez and he “fired the weapon one time at the victim and left the area.”
The second suspect has not been located and arrested, according to police.
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