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WEST VALLEY CITY — A man is recovering after being injured in a drive-by shooting. Police are searching for the shooter and say the gunman may have gang ties, but the victim apparently does not.
The shooting happened at an apartment complex near 2400 West and 3800 South just before 2 a.m. Police said a 30-year-old man was sitting in front of his apartment and socializing with his two brothers.
As an SUV drove through the apartment complex, someone in the vehicle yelled the initials of a gang and then fired between three to five gunshots.
The victim's sister (who has withheld her name for privacy reasons) also stepped outside to socialize with her husband, brother and cousin just before the shooting began.
"It wasn't until I saw the three boys ducking for cover that I realized it wasn't a joke," she said. "That he was really shooting at us. As soon as we started hiding, I was really scared. I thought he was going to turn around and come back."
Witnesses said that three to five shots were fired. One bullet grazed the 30-year-old man's left leg, and another went through the door of a relative's apartment where children were inside playing.
- Dark-colored
- Possibly a Buick
- Temporary license plates
Sgt. Steve Burke of the West Valley City Police Department said neither the victim nor his brothers appear to belong to a gang.
"They could have been just sitting in the wrong place at the wrong time, and if these other guys were gang members, they may not have liked that. It's hard to say," Burke said.
Police said the man who was injured declined to go the hospital in an ambulance. His sister drove him there for treatment.
Police don't have much information about the gunman. The brothers believed two people were in the SUV, which was dark-colored, possibly a Buick, with temporary plates.
The victim told officers he's never seen that vehicle in the apartment complex before.
Authorities recovered a bullet from the closet of a neighboring apartment and will run tests on it. They said without a good suspect description, this case could be difficult to solve. Forensics on the recovered round could help.
