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TOOELE — A Tooele man already in jail charged with a graffiti crime is now being investigated in a stabbing that left a man injured in life-threatening condition.
On April 28, Tooele police were called to an apartment near 100 E. Utah Ave. in Tooele, where officers found a 27-year-old man "with severe bleeding." The man was flown by medical helicopter to a Salt Lake hospital.
"The injuries (the man) sustained were life-threatening as officers used two tourniquets to stop the bleeding. (He) also has injuries that he will not get full recovery from," according to a police booking affidavit.
Others in the apartment told investigators that the man had been in an argument with Gabriel Emilio Mascarenas, 29, who had "burst" into the apartment. The argument "started to get out of control" and others told the two to "take the dispute outside," the affidavit states.
Just a short time later, however, the victim yelled out to the others that he needed help and Mascarenas was no longer in the area.
Initially, the victim did not fully cooperate with investigators and would not give them the name of the person who stabbed him.
On May 10, Mascarensas was arrested for allegedly causing extensive graffiti vandalism throughout Tooele over the past several months. He was one of two men arrested in separate graffiti investigations. Mascarenas was charged May 10 with graffiti violations, a second-degree felony; and trespassing, a class B misdemeanor, and remained in the Tooele County Jail Thursday.
Detectives served search warrants in connection with the stabbing and collected evidence, including a knife and shoes that matched a bloody shoe print found at the crime scene, according to police. Mascarenas is now also behind held in jail for investigation of aggravated assault causing serious injury.
Mascarenas was previously charged with attempted murder in Tooele County for a stabbing incident on Halloween night in 2012. That charge was later dismissed and his actions were determined to be in self-defense. But he was also charged with aggravated assault in connection with another choking incident that same night and was convicted and sentenced to up to five years at the Utah State Prison, according to court records.
