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TAYLORSVILLE — A West Valley woman was shot and killed while driving in an apartment complex early Monday.
About 1:15 a.m., police received calls from several tenants at the Callaway Apartments, 1095 W. Clubhouse Drive (3990 South), of shots being fired. The apartment complex is on the border of West Valley City and Taylorsville, so police from both the West Valley and Unified police departments responded.
Several shell casings were found on the road, as well as a vehicle that had crashed about 75 yards away, said Unified Police Lt. Brian Lohrke.
"The car was in motion when she was shot," he said.
Investigators believe that after the driver, Maria Alegandra Ayala, 19, was shot, the vehicle coasted until it came to a stop by hitting another parked vehicle at low speed. When officers found it, the driver's side door was open and Ayala was in the driver's seat deceased with a gunshot wound to her head, Lohrke said. There was at least one bullet hole in the windshield.
Ayala did not live at the apartment complex, and it was not immediately known why she was there.
While this was happening, Lohrke said police dispatchers in Davis County received a call from someone who claimed to have seen four teenagers run into an apartment at the complex, one of them with a "bloody shirt," Lohrke said.
Detectives went to that apartment and found three boys and a girl, all 14 or 15 years old. As of Monday morning, the four were not considered suspects in the shooting, Lohrke said. However, at least two of the teens were listed as runaways and would be taken to juvenile detention.
Car that woman was in when she was murdered just got towed away. @KSL5TV#KSLAMpic.twitter.com/O8Omg5GZG0
— Caitlin Burchill (@newsyCaitlin) April 3, 2017
In addition, Lohrke said at least three of the four teens are documented gang members. Investigators also believe that Ayala and the teenagers were associates. However, Lohrke said he did not know if the shooting was gang-related.
Lohrke said the teens appears to be "flopping" at one of the apartment units. It was not immediately clear Monday who the tenant of that apartment is. Investigators were waiting to obtain a search warrant to look through the apartment. Lohrke said investigators had not found a bloody shirt but were still looking.
Additional information will be posted throughout the day as it becomes available.
