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KEARNS — A fourth person has been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a man in the parking lot of the Kearns Recreation Center in 2017.
Israel Ramirez-Torres, 20, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Monday for investigation of murder and aggravated robbery.
On Tuesday, formal charges were filed in 3rd District Court against all four men arrested in connection with the Oct. 21, 2017, shooting death of Joshua Belen, 20.
Carson Michael Lee O’Dell, 19, of Salt Lake City; Anthony Gene Knight, 19, of Kearns; Angel Fernandez, 19, of Magna; and Ramirez-Torres are each charged with murder and aggravated robbery, both first-degree felonies.
O’Dell and Ramirez-Torres are also charged with obstructing justice, a second-degree felony.
The group had arranged to buy a small amount of marijuana from Belen outside the Kearns Recreation Center, 5624 S. Cougar Lane. But rather than buy drugs, police say the plan was to rob Belen once he showed up.
When the group attempted to rob Belen, however, he pulled out a gun.
“Nah, nah ... you’re not taking that!” Belen told the others, according to the charging documents.
O’Dell and Fernandez drew their own guns, according to a police booking affidavit.
“O’Dell pointed his pistol toward the dealer. The dealer pointed his pistol toward O’Dell. A single shot was fired,” the charges state.
Belen was shot once in the head and killed.
As the group ran from the scene, Fernandez fell, resulting in his gun discharging and Fernandez shooting himself, according to the charges. Shortly after Belen was killed, Fernandez went to Jordan Valley Hospital to be treated for a gunshot wound to his groin area.
Related:
Man arrested in 2017 killing near Utah Olympic Oval
A 19-year-old man charged this week in a series of aggravated robberies is now being held for investigation of a 2017 homicide at the Kearns Recreation Center.O’Dell has also been charged in connection with two other violent robberies in 2019 on Aug. 23 and Nov. 25, according to court documents.
Furthermore, both Knight and Fernandez are also witnesses in another murder investigation that took place six months before Belen was killed.
On April 3, 2017, police were called to the Callaway Apartments, 1095 W. Clubhouse Drive (3990 South), where they found Maria Alegandra Ayala, 19, shot to death in the driver’s seat of a car.
Domingo Rodrigues, 20, who uses the moniker “Demon,” was charged with murder, a first-degree felony, and six counts of discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony.
According to charging documents, two groups were leaving a party in separate cars when the occupants of Ayala’s car waved gang signs. Rodrigues responded by shooting at them from the car he was in, the charges state.
Court documents filed this year indicate that Knight was in the same car as Rodrigues at the time of the shooting, and Fernandez also witnessed the shooting. Rodrigues’ next court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 24.
