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SALT LAKE CITY -- Several police agencies are joining forces to figure out who is responsible for dozens of BB gun shootings across the Salt Lake Valley. [CLICK here to see a plot map of the reported shootings]
The latest reports are the first in Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City police Sgt. Robin Snyder says the eight most recent victims reported being shot in the arm, back or leg earlier in March.
Police say the total has now risen to 42 incidents since mid-March. They say this has to stop before anyone else gets injured.
Snyder said, "We've taken it very seriously from the beginning because this is an aggravated assault. This is a felony offense."
Police are seeing more victims come forward because of media coverage of the shootings.
We've taken it very seriously from the beginning because this is an aggravated assault. This is a felony offense.
–Sgt. Robin Snyder, Salt Lake City Police Department
"A lot of them didn't report it right when it happened because they considered it a prank," Snyder said. "After they saw it on the news they realized that this was a widespread problem across the valley, and so they decided to give us a call."
Now police are intent on finding the suspects before they harm anyone else.
The agencies involved are Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake, Unified police, Taylorsville and West Valley City.
"The detectives got together and met, and they're going to start working the case together jointly to try to catch up with the suspects," Snyder said.
In many of the incidents, the suspects apparently drove away in a silver car with juveniles inside.
Case in point: In an incident on March 16, a man named Jerrel was heading home on his bike when he was shot with a high-powered BB gun. He saw a silver, early-90s Subaru Hatchback with three high school-aged teens inside.
"I started yelling at them and trying to chase them," he said. "They got away from me --- can't outpace a car on a bike."
Police say if the suspects think this is funny, they're wrong.
"Just because it's a BB gun doesn't mean it's a prank," Snyder said. "I think a lot of people are thinking, ‘Well, it's just a prank,' but you can be pretty severely injured."
If the suspects are caught, police say they'll face felony aggravated assault charges.
Police still aren't sure if the suspects are the same in all the cases. They say it might be a large ring, but at the same time they couldn't rule out copycat crimes either.
E-mail: ngonzales@ksl.com
