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WEST JORDAN — A 3rd District Court judge has ruled that a man accused of shooting and killing another man at a Rancheritos restaurant in 2018 should stand trial for the murder.
Jonathan Hunt, 21, was charged when he was 18 with murder and felony discharge of a firearm, both first-degree felonies. He pleaded not-guilty to the charges at the hearing on Wednesday.
Police reported that the shooting happened in September 2018 at a Rancherito's restaurant, 7849 S. Redwood Road, at about 12:30 a.m. Two men entered the restaurant and got into an altercation with Noe Armijo-Luna, 20, of Midvale, and another man. Hunt then allegedly pulled out a handgun and shot Armijo-Luna multiple times, according to the written statement from police.
Emergency responders performed CPR on Armijo-Luna and transported him to a hospital, where he later died.
Hunt's attorney, Brock Van de Kamp, argued at the hearing that there was nothing proving that Hunt fired the shot that killed Armijo-Luna, because a DNA analysis did not point to Hunt and there is no video proving that he was at the restaurant.
An officer who testified at the hearing verified that the DNA test had, in fact, come back inconclusive. The officer said that the shell casings at the restaurant match ones found in a vehicle belonging to Jayden Olsen, a 25-year-old witness who accompanied Hunt into the restaurant that night. West Jordan police said Olsen had been involved in a dispute with Armijo-Luna over a girl for a few months prior to the incident.
Police officers also testified about interviews with witnesses at the scene, Olsen, who was charged with obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, and drug distribution, a third-degree felony, pertaining to the same incident.
Correction:An earlier version incorrectly said Hunt had been involved in a dispute with Armijo-Luna over a girl, but it was actually Olsen, according to police.
