Police Identify Victim, Suspect In Deadly Drive-By Shooting
Mar 21, 2019, 5:45 AM | Updated: 12:59 pm
SANDY, Utah – Unified Police released the identities of two men — the victim and the suspect — in a drive-by shooting that happened Wednesday night.
Authorities identified Ray Paul Willie Vasquez, 40, as the victim, and Jose Luis Garcia, 24, as the suspect. Both men died.
Police were looking for Garcia, who allegedly shot Vasquez at a gas station at Main and Center streets in Midvale Wednesday night before witnesses said he fled in a Jeep Wrangler.
Garcia and Vasquez were known to each other, according to Unified Police, and the incident was not random.
Officials later located Garcia and pursued him. The chase ended at Peruvian Park Elementary School in Sandy, where the authorities said Garcia crashed the vehicle.
When police approached, they discovered he had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It was not clear if he shot himself while driving or after the crash occurred.
The elementary school is located in a neighborhood surrounded by homes in the area of 1500 East and 8400 South.
Investigators worked through the night to process the evidence and then removed the Jeep from the school grounds. Police confirmed it was the same Jeep Wrangler witnessed at the drive-by shooting in Midvale.
