Police Looking For Second Suspect In Hate Crime Investigation
Jan 29, 2021, 6:34 PM | Updated: 8:10 pm
MURRAY, Utah – Police are searching for a second suspect in an alleged hate crime after a man was shot with paintballs and then had real bullets fired at him.
The suspects, who were in a silver BMW, fired paintballs at someone else before they pulled up to Hurbis Gascon.
Gascon was wrapping up his maintenance shift Tuesday when he said shouting from the BMW startled him.
#UPDATE-Hurbis Gascon speaking out after 2 men opened fire at him calling him an "F*** Mexican." Hurbis' knee jerk reaction was to jump in his truck & follow them for their license plate: "I realized they could do it again- to a father walking w/ their child." Story on @KSL5TV pic.twitter.com/gYe3T82vui
— Garna Mejia KSL (@GarnaMejiaKSL) January 30, 2021
“I was here working. I was almost done with my shift salting the sidewalk,” Gascon said through a translator. “They shouted ‘F*** you Mexican!’”
Then came the shots. “I heard the shots pop, pop, pop. About four times, and I felt the paintballs hit me.”
The situation escalated. Gascon said the two men in the car pulled out handguns and one fired shots.
“One man was white, he had a revolver, looked like a caliber 38. Then he pulls out the gun as if to fire at me. But then the other man, the driver, I think he was black, he pulled his hand down and pulled out his own Glock and started shooting at me. I saw this all happen in an instant,” Gascon said.
He ran for cover as several shots hit his truck and he realized someone else could get hurt.
“They could shoot at someone buying groceries at Walmart, or a parent walking down the street with their children,” he said.
That’s why Gascon jumped in his truck to get the silver BMW’s license plate as he called 911.
“But we didn’t see a license plate,” Gascon said, adding the plate was missing. He said the suspects then rammed into him.
The scene spanned several blocks from Murray’s Main Street clear to 300 East and 2700 South in South Salt Lake.
He wasn’t sure if his Venezuelan military experience kicked in, but the chase continued until the suspects’ tire was damaged.
Police arrested one man, 33-year-old Andrew Guarino, and the other remained at-large Friday.
“I still have ringing in my ears,” Gascon said.
Guarino’s charges were enhanced to a hate crime because he made racist remarks during his interview with detectives.
Guarino has a long rap sheet including a robbery at a Winco last month, where police said surveillance video showed him reacting aggressively toward employees.
Meanwhile, police are asking for help identifying the second suspect. They have not released his name.
