Mother Arrested In Connection With Fatal Shooting Of 2-Year-Old
Dec 15, 2020, 8:43 PM
The driver of a fatal hit-and-run crash in Salt Lake City last fall is facing criminal charges. (Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
VERNAL, Utah – Officials with the Uintah County Sheriff’s Office said a 40-year-old woman has been arrested after a 2-year-old boy was shot and killed.
Deputies said Valerie Peck was booked into the Uintah County Jail Tuesday on suspicion of aggravated murder and child abuse.
Officers responded to a shooting Monday afternoon near Fantasy Canyon, which is located in central Uintah County. Initial reports indicated a woman and a 3-year-old child had been shot.
Peck was taken to an area hospital and treated for her injuries. Deputies said the boy, Zack, was dead when they arrived at the scene.
“During the investigation, deputies learned that Peck had taken her son on a drive to the Dry Fork Canyon area earlier in the day,” deputies said in a release Tuesday. “She then stopped at a camping area north of Dry Fork on Red Cloud Loop Road. After spending some time in the area, Peck put her son back in the vehicle and shot him with a .22-caliber rifle.”
Officials said Peck shot herself after allegedly shooting her son, then drove around the county for several hours with her son in the vehicle before deputies made contact with her on Glen Bench Road off state Route 45.
Peck was released from the hospital Tuesday and booked into jail.
“The sheriff’s office extends its most sincere condolences to all who knew and loved Zack,” deputies said.
