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SALT LAKE CITY — A husband and wife are dead after an apparent murder-suicide shooting at a parking lot outside of a laboratory on the University of Utah Research Park Thursday evening.
Police responded to a report of the shooting sometime around 5 p.m. outside of ARUP Laboratories, which is located at 500 S. Chipeta Way, according to U. police chief Dale Brophy.
A man, identified as Richard Peralta, 25, approached the woman, identified as Katherine Peralta, 23, in the parking lot and allegedly shot her multiple times before turning the gun on himself, Brophy said.
Katherine Peralta died at the scene. Richard Peralta was taken to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Brophy said the two were husband and wife. Katherine Peralta worked at ARUP, the police chief said. She and her husband been experiencing "some marital issues," Brophy added.
"It appears there was a domestic situation and this was where he came to confront his wife and it ended up in a tragedy," he said. "It appears there was a short confrontation and then (it) ended in gunfire."
Police were still trying to find an exact motive for the shooting, Brophy said. A forensic team was called to assist in the investigation.
A lockdown was enforced for less than an hour after the shooting, but that has since been lifted.
"Based on what we were told (by witnesses) and what we've learned so far, this all happened in the parking lot. It was an isolated incident and there's no continuing threat to the rest of the community," Brophy said.
The killing is the first murder on the University of Utah campus in about 10 years, according to Brophy.
The chief said he was unaware of any prior domestic issues between the couple that required police intervention. Court records show 26 misdemeanor theft charges against Richard Peralta were dismissed after he entered a plea in abeyance in January 2011. He had no other prior criminal history in Utah besides that case.
- Utah Domestic Violence Coalition operates a confidential statewide, 24-hour domestic abuse hotline at 1-800-897-LINK (5465). Resources are also available online: udvc.org.
Contributing: Mike Anderson, Ben Lockhart
