UPDATE: 2 killed in shooting at Draper party
Apr 3, 2022, 11:41 AM | Updated: Apr 4, 2022, 11:02 am
DRAPER, Utah – Police announced the second victim in a shooting at a house party in Draper had succumbed to his injuries and passed away Monday.
Police are still searching for the gunman after the two were shot and killed Sunday.
The two victims were identified by police as 27-year-old Austin Terry Powell, and 21-year-old Jonathan July Fuentes.
Shots rang out as the party came to an end at an Airbnb rental near Vista Way and Cranberry around 1 a.m. Sunday.
Lt. Dustin Willie with the Draper Police Department said the shooting followed some sort of dispute that spilled into the roadway.
“Ya know, loud, vocal and started breaking bottles, and at that point, one of them opened fire, shot about ten shots, and then as soon as the shots were fired, multiple cars left as fast as they could,” said Jason Groscost, who lives near the Airbnb property.
While most ran away, Groscost ran toward the chaos.
“We found the victim in his car, noticed he didn’t have a pulse, so we pulled him out and started CPR and did CPR back and forth between me and my wife,” he said.
The second victim was nearby.
“He was stable, breathing, had a pulse, just had a head wound bleeding pretty badly, so we put pressure on it to keep him stable as much as we could,” Groscost said.
The couple stayed calm and collected.
“My wife is an ICU nurse, so she deals with stuff like this a lot, so for her, she is pointing, ‘OK, you do CPR. You gotta switch for compressions and things like that,'” Groscost said.
While all of this was going on, Groscost said, “There was a lot of crying, a lot of yelling kids saying, ‘I can’t believe this is happening. We should have left 20 minutes ago.'”
Now, caution tape covers the door and the road is stained red as Jason Groscost and his wife process what happened.
“A bit surreal,” Groscost said. “You come up and… you have to react, you can’t just sit and you do what you have to do.”
Neighbors told KSL TV the home has only been on Airbnb for a few weeks.
The owner has now taken the listing down after what happened and told neighbors the home won’t be up for short-term rental again.
“It’s something nobody ever really expects,” Groscost said. “I’ve lived in the neighborhood within five blocks of here for 20 years, and nothing like this has ever happened.”
The suspect fled and several police agencies have been looking for him ever since.
Willie said police had locked down the neighborhood, but they did not find the gunman.
“The suspect attempted to carjack some other partygoers that were leaving,” Willie added. “They were able to get away without being harmed and kept their car. And then, the suspect ended up leaving in a different car. We don’t know if it was his vehicle or a friend’s vehicle.”
Police described the gunman as Hispanic with a stocky build. He has face tattoos, including a tattoo that says “801” over one of his eyebrows.
Willie said detectives were following up on several leads.
“If this happened in my neighborhood, I would be, I’d be concerned, too,” Willie said. “It’s very disconcerting to have a shooting and hear gunshots in your neighborhood.”
He said he did not think the suspect posed a danger to the community.
Police are asking anyone who was at the party or who has information about the incident to call Draper Police.
Airbnb shared a statement Sunday afternoon with KSL TV about the incident.
“We join the Draper community in condemning this senseless gun violence. We ban parties, and we have removed the booking guest from our platform as we conduct a thorough investigation. We have also reached out to the leadership of the Draper Police Department to offer our assistance as they work to find the person responsible for this criminal act.