Utahn charged with shooting at cars during illegal street race


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SALT LAKE CITY — A Taylorsville man who police say was watching a group engage in illegal street racing was charged Tuesday with shooting a pellet gun at the drivers.

Gabriel Cruz Flores, 24, is charged in 3rd District Court with aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, and intoxication, a class C misdemeanor.

On Sept. 23, a group of mostly juveniles were street racing near 4600 West and 700 South, according to Salt Lake police. Flores, who later told officers after he was arrested that he had consumed a lot of alcohol, started shooting a pellet gun at the vehicles, according to charging documents.

"At one point, Flores was pointing the gun at people in the area and shot at several people," the charges state.

Other people who were there for the street racing rushed Flores and attempted to contain him, the charges state. No one was seriously injured.

Gabriel Cruz Flores, 24. (Photo: Salt Lake County Jail)
Gabriel Cruz Flores, 24. (Photo: Salt Lake County Jail)

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According to police, Flores' friend, Elbis Alejandro Nava-Gonzalez, 18, then brandished a real handgun to try and scare the crowd. He then got into his car and sped away, but crashed into another vehicle after running a stop sign. Nava-Gonzalez was charged earlier this week.

Flores was still pinned by spectators when police arrived at the original scene and he was arrested.

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Pat Reavy is a longtime police and courts reporter. He joined the KSL.com team in 2021, after many years of reporting at the Deseret News and KSL NewsRadio before that.

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