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OGDEN — Officers arrested a 20-year-old Saturday after they say he shot another man, then led police on a high-speed chase with a child in the car.
Octavio Efrain Estrada Mendez was arrested and booked into the Weber County Jail Sunday on suspicion of attempted murder, kidnapping and possession of meth and marijuana, among other things, according to jail records.
On Saturday night, a man was at the Newgate Mall, 3651 Wall Ave., with his girlfriend and their son when he got into a verbal argument with another man who was at the mall with his girlfriend, jail records state. The man suggested the two men take the argument outside, and they both left to go to the parking lot separately.
As the other man and his girlfriend were walking to their car, the man shot the victim in his upper left torso, jail records show. The gunman then jumped into his girlfriend's pickup truck where she was sitting with their son and said "I'm sorry," according to jail records.
He quickly drove away, but a police officer in the area heard the gunshot and saw the truck pull away. The officer began to pursue the truck, and the chase lasted several minutes and reached up to speeds over 70 mph, according to jail records.
The driver's girlfriend pled with him to stop the truck several times as the man occasionally drove the wrong way on some roads and nearly caused several traffic accidents, jail records state. When he refused, she asked him to stop and let her and their son leave, but the driver continued to refuse, according to jail records.
He eventually stopped the truck and fled on foot. After a short foot chase, officers apprehended Estrada Mendez, though he continued to resist arrest, according to jail records.
Officers then obtained a search warrant to search the truck and found a black backpack with 217 grams of what police identified as marijuana and 31 grams of what police identified as meth inside, jail records state. They also found a scale and packaging material.
Estrada Mendez's girlfriend said she had picked him up in Salt Lake earlier in the day and he had the black backpack when he got in the truck, jail records state.
Officers also found a loaded handgun in the car, and Estrada Mendez's girlfriend said he had thrown it onto her lap while he was fleeing from police, according to jail records, but she threw it on the ground.
Both the victim and the victim's girlfriend identified Estrada Mendez in a line-up, and the 20-year-old was booked into jail early Sunday morning.
The victim is expected to make a full recovery.
Editor's note: Police initially indicated that Estrada Mendez was 21-years-old. This article has been corrected to reflect that he is 20.
