Five people are charged in a gang-related shooting in Herriman

HERRIMAN — Criminal charges are expected against several people in what police are calling a gang-related confrontation that culminated in gunfire and a car crash at a Herriman apartment complex in September.

Franklin Alejandro Valera, 20, of Herriman, was arraigned Tuesday in 3rd District Court on four counts of shooting in the direction of a person, shooting in the direction of a vehicle and four counts of second-degree aggravated assault. The charge was brought with an increase in the gang sentence.

Valera is the fifth person to be charged in connection with the Sept. 22 incident.

The events occurred in the parking lot of an apartment complex near 5600 W. Roe Deer Lane (11800 South). Herriman Police responded to a report of shots fired. When officers arrived, they found a Mitsubishi had crashed into a poolside fence.

A short time later, Riverton police reported that officers stopped a Hyundai that had bullet holes in the windshield and damage to the front end, according to charging documents.

As investigators tried to sort out the various stories of those involved and witnesses, they learned that there was a physical confrontation between two groups that began when one group approached the other and “began insulting them and telling them “That this was their territory,” according to the prosecution.

A fight broke out in which one side threatened with a knife and another brandished a weapon, witnesses reported to investigators. After that confrontation ended, one group got into the Hyundai and the other got into the Mitsubishi.

At some point, the Hyundai struck the rear of the Mitsubishi, causing it to crash into the fence, the lawsuit says.

According to a witness, four people got out of the Mitsubishi, including Alejandro Andres Palmar Romero, who then fired “three shots into the windshield” of the Hyundai and then two more shots into the air, the lawsuit says.

“Investigators discovered a bullet fragment in the seam of the driver’s seat, as well as bullet holes in the windshield, the frame next to the driver’s seat belt and in the passenger seat. A deformed bullet was pulled out of the seat in which (a man) was sitting,” the indictment states. “A fragment of the bullet hit the driver in the shoulder, while the other shots hit the door frames and hit the driver’s seat and the back passenger seat.”

A police detective from another agency told investigators that some of the people involved in the Sept. 22 incident were also involved in an unknown incident in their jurisdiction and were identified as members of a gang traced to a prison in Venezuela . They were described as a “transnational criminal organization,” court documents say.

According to prosecutors, Palmar is in the United States illegally after entering through Florida. He has been held in the Salt Lake County Jail since his arrest following the shooting. There are arrest warrants for the other four accused men.

On Monday, Endry Jose Villalobos Fabelo, 20, of West Jordan, was charged with three counts of aggravated assault, a second-degree felony; and three counts of threatening or using a weapon in a fight, a third-degree felony.

Jose Mariano Vitoria Valera, 21, of Herriman, was charged Monday with three counts of aggravated assault, a second-degree felony; and two counts of threatening or using a weapon in a fight, a third-degree felony.

In September, Palmar, 19, of Herriman, was charged with shooting in the direction of a person, causing injury and being a restricted person in possession of a weapon, a second-degree felony; two counts of shooting in the direction of a vehicle and two counts of third-degree aggravated assault.

Late Wednesday afternoon, 21-year-old Henry Camejo of Riverton was charged with aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.

All charges against each individual are also subject to a gang enhancement sentence if convicted.

Court documents also list another man, age 19, as a co-defendant, but no formal charges had been filed against him as of Wednesday.