Is gun seized in domestic violence case connected to Utah Lake shooting?
Nov 11, 2022, 4:08 PM | Updated: May 21, 2023, 4:30 pm
(FILE)
(FILE)
VINEYARD, Utah — A domestic violence call in Vineyard may have led to the discovery of a gun that investigators believe was used in a double shooting near Utah Lake.
On Oct. 17, Utah County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call of a man who had brandished a gun at his ex-girlfriend. Deputies found the 28-year-old man and seized a gun that was determined to be stolen, according to charging documents.
As the investigation continued, it was discovered that the gun is the same make, model, caliber — and has the same serial number — of a gun seen in videos being held by a man who was arrested and charged in connection with a Sept. 4 shooting during an illegal rodeo near Lincoln Beach on the west side of West Mountain near the town of Genola, the charges state.
In that case, Cesar Matias Sevilla-Aleman, 25, of Orem, is accused of shooting a man in the stomach at close range. The bullet traveled through that man and hit a second man in the arm. The man shot in the stomach was treated for critical injuries, according to the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.
Sevilla-Aleman is charged in 4th District Court with attempted murder. His girlfriend, Iran Torres, 46, of Orem, was later arrested and charged with obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.
Detectives investigating the shooting searched Torres’ phone after her arrest and “located multiple pictures and videos showing Sevilla-Aleman in possession of one or more handguns. Multiple videos show Sevilla-Aleman with two handguns in his hands or lap while driving Torres’ car,” according to charging documents.
One of those guns was recovered, but police say that was not the one used in the shooting.
Investigators believe that after the shooting, Torres sold the gun he used to the man who was arrested in the domestic violence incident, according to a search warrant affidavit.
“(The man) stated Iran showed him where she had buried this gun, near her residence, under some rocks,” the warrant states.
As of Thursday, the sheriff’s office said it was still attempting to confirm that the gun recovered in Vineyard is the same one used in the shooting.
