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TAYLORSVILLE — A woman was taken into custody Saturday after a shooting at a Taylorsville apartment complex left one man dead, authorities say.
At approximately 11:30 p.m. Friday night, an armed confrontation between two groups occurred in the parking lot of the Atherton Park apartment complex at 4545 S. Atherton Drive, Unified Police detective Ken Hansen told KSL on Saturday.
A 30-year-old male was shot and later pronounced dead at the hospital, Hansen said. Unified Police later identified the dead man as Joey Michael Duran.
Sofia Penrod was arrested on suspicion of murder and obstruction of justice, an affidavit of probable cause states.
Police discovered Duran bleeding profusely in front of one of the apartment buildings with bullet casings outside a nearby door, the affidavit reads. When police conducted a safety check and announced themselves at the apartment, they spoke with Penrod and then interviewed her at the sheriff's office, the affidavit says.
"During the interview with Sofia, she was caught in numerous lies and changed her story," the affidavit reads.
Penrod stated that she was babysitting her half-sister in the apartment and was woken up by gunshots, but eventually admitted to knowing Duran, the affidavit says. Penrod said Duran was her cousin and that she had met him once, and it was coincidental that he was shot outside her apartment, according to the probable cause statement.
Police obtained a search warrant and conducted a search of Penrod's phone and discovered social media messages Penrod admitted were hers, according to the affidavit.
Messages Penrod sent discussed her thinking about jumping out of a back window to avoid police, and one read, "Atherton Apts Cops are here I'm hiding in the closet Hurry They don't think it was me" (because police were looking for bullet holes at the time), according to the affidavit.
