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WEST VALLEY CITY — A 16-year-old boy shot in a gang-related incident last week is paralyzed from the waist down, according to a Salt Lake County Jail report.
On Thursday, the teen was shot after two gangs arranged to meet near 3740 W. 3280 South. Saturday, West Valley police announced that four adults and two juveniles had been arrested in the case.
Kevin Henriquez-Chavarria, 19; Gerson Mursia-Morales, 18; Carlos Valentin, 18; and Juan Jose Espina, 19; as well as two teenagers ages 15 and 16, were booked into the Salt Lake County Jail and juvenile detention.
According to jail booking records, Espina drove up along three people on the sidewalk near the designated meeting area, handed a gun to a person in the back seat, and then Henriquez-Chavarria and another male got out of the car and fired several rounds at the group. The 16-year-old was hit in the back, "which resulted in serious bodily injury relating to him becoming paralyzed below the waist," the report states.
Valentin told police that he and the other suspected gang members were targeting a specific individual to "send a message to," according to the report. He says he knew weapons were in the vehicle when they approached the pedestrians and that "someone was going to get shot," the report states.
