Midvale teen arrested in fatal stabbing now charged in 2 murder cases

SALT LAKE CITY — A 17-year-old boy already charged as an adult with shooting and killing a man in West Valley City is now accused of stabbing another man to death about a year later downtown.

Julian Eli Lopez, of Midvale, was charged Monday in 3rd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony.

He is one of three teens recently charged with murder in the June 4, 2022, shootings of two men during a birthday party at an apartment near 2935 S. Whistling Lane. Elijah Isaiah Brown, 23, was killed in that incident and Alexander John Ogilvie, 21, was critically injured.

The fatal stabbing occurred about 2:40 a.m. on April 30. “People were gathered outside a nightclub after it closed enjoying music when a fight broke out between different groups, resulting in the victim being stabbed,” according to charging documents.

Oscar Vera, 28, was stabbed near 32 E. Exchange Place. He died from his injuries on May 2. According to witnesses, there was an after-party going on outside of a club when two groups got into a fight. Police said they were given various accounts about what happened, including misinformation.

On May 19, Magaly Bravo, 19, was arrested after detectives located surveillance video that showed her at the crime scene and determined her “initial statement to law enforcement that she was not there when the fight broke out was untrue,” charging documents state. Gabriel Gonzalez, 20, was also injured during the fight that night. Police say Gonzalez “claimed that he was not involved in the fight and that he just got too close. Gonzalez stated that he didn’t know the guy who stabbed him or anyone else that was involved in the fight.”

Investigators put the pieces of their case together, however, using a photo that shows “Lopez reengaging with the victim and his group after the initial fight had concluded and proceeding to stab the victim, who can be seen clutching his chest after the stabbing,” the charges allege.

The Metro Gang Unit took the 17-year-old into custody on May 2 and Lopez was charged two days later as an adult in connection with the 2022 shooting. He was 16 at the time of that killing.

Gonzalez, of West Valley City, and Bravo, of Murray, were also charged Monday with obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, in connection with the fatal stabbing.