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PROVO — A second man has been arrested in connection with a shooting at a Provo gas station that allegedly started with an argument over clothing color.
On June 18, police say two groups got into an argument in the parking lot of Chevron, 900 W. Center, over the color of one group's clothes. After the argument, Alejandro Antonio Molina-Ballesteros, 19, of Magna, got into his car, drove to the end of the parking lot, got out and fired seven rounds at the other group, according to a police booking affidavit.
"Two of the bullets struck the grey vehicle the victims were standing next to, three struck a van that was parked in the parking lot and occupied by a female in the driver seat. Of those three bullets, one hit the tire, one hit the door just below the window where the driver was sitting and shattered the window and the third hit the top of the van," the affidavit states. "Another bullet struck the building, and the seventh bullet strike was not located."
Amazingly, no one was injured.
Molina-Ballesteros was later arrested and charged in 4th District Court with attempted murder, a first-degree felony; aggravated assault and discharge of a firearm, both third-degree felonies.
Now, police have arrested the man detectives say was in the passenger seat of Molina-Ballesteros' car and provided him with the gun he allegedly used to shoot.
Timothy Vaughn Akai Nordahl, 20, of Murray, was booked into the Utah County Jail Thursday night for investigation of attempted murder, aggravated assault and illegal discharge of a firearm.
Nordahl was arrested in West Valley City a few days after the shooting, according to a police affidavit.
"He was attempting to sell firearms at the time of his arrest. One of the firearms he was found in possession of was the gun used in the shooting. When interviewed, he told officers that the gun belonged to him and he had had possession of it for the past year," the affidavit says.
Based on Nordahl's comments that it was his gun, "it was determined,Timothy would have given the gun to Alejandro to commit the attempted murder and then took the gun back into his possession," police wrote in the affidavit.
Molina-Ballesteros also currently faces charges of failing to stop at the command of an officer and interfering with an arrest after allegedly fleeing from Unified police in April. Those charges were filed after his arrest in connection with the Provo shooting.
