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SALT LAKE CITY — A man charged last year in a cold-case concert shooting from 2011 made his first appearance in court Monday.
Anthony Derek Long Soldier, 36, was charged with murder, a first-degree felony, in October in the death of 19-year-old Stephen Angel Lopez.
Charges were filed after the joint Cold Case Homicide Task Force created by the Unified and South Salt Lake police departments reopened the case and identified Long Soldier as the suspected shooter.
Prosecutor Nathan Evershed confirmed Long Soldier was extradited to Utah last week from the U.S. Penitentiary's Big Sandy facility in Kentucky after completing a sentence he was serving there.
Evershed said Long Soldier was in custody at the federal facility when charges were filed in October, but would not specify why he was incarcerated.
According to charging documents, Long Soldier and Lopez were both at a rap concert at the Arbat Reception Hall, 375 E. 3300 South, that "brought a large number of known rival gang members to the hall" on Oct. 1, 2011.
Police say Lopez was confronted by another man, Isaac Gallegos, who demanded to know where he was from.
Lopez replied with the name of the gang he was affiliated with. Gallegos responded by saying that was the wrong gang and then punched Lopez in the face, charges state.
A witness told police that Lopez, who was unarmed, attempted to get away but found the exit blocked by other concertgoers leaving the hall. As Gallegos moved to hit Lopez again, Long Soldier — a fellow gang member of Gallegos who was standing nearby with a gun visible in his waistband — walked up and shot Lopez, according to the charges.
Long Soldier also fired a round toward the crowd leaving the hall, the witness said. Another concertgoer, Joseph Gates, was shot in the arm.
Lopez died at Intermountain Medical Center the next day of a single gunshot wound to the chest.
In the chaotic scene following the shooting, an additional five people were hospitalized after either being shot, stabbed or injured in a car crash while trying to flee the scene, police said at the time.
A scheduling conference in Long Soldier's case is set for April 14.
In the addition to the murder charge, Long Soldier faces one count of discharge of a firearm with serious bodily injury. Both of the first-degree felony charges are associated with gang activity and subject to potential enhanced penalties.
Editor's note: The photo gallery incorrectly identified Stephen Lopez's photo as Anthony Soldier. It has been updated.
