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KEARNS — A Kearns man who police say fired a shot at his wife while she was holding their 1-year-old child — narrowly missing them both — is now facing several criminal charges.
Jorge M. Osorio Martinez, 32, was charged Monday in 3rd District Court with aggravated assault, discharge of a firearm, and two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child, third-degree felonies; reckless endangerment, a class A misdemeanor; and unlawful discharge of a firearm, a class B misdemeanor.
Police say Martinez got into a heated argument with his wife about 9:45 p.m. Wednesday.
"During the argument, Osorio Martinez pointed a handgun in her direction, told her he was going to kill her, then fired a single round … narrowly missing her," charging documents state.
The wife said "she was sitting a few feet away from the arrestee when he told her he was going to kill her and shot a single shot toward her direction just a few feet away from her" while she was holding their 1-year-old daughter, a police booking affidavit adds.
Police say the shot went through the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom walls.
Martinez then went downstairs where a tenant was living in a basement apartment and confronted him. The tenant and his roommate wrestled Martinez to take the gun away from him. A second shot was fired in the process, police said. No one was injured.
Martinez then returned to the upstairs area and punched his wife in the head and kicked her multiple times, according to the charges.
Police were called to the residence, but the wife had fled by that point and Martinez told officers nothing had happened. But about 30 to 40 minutes later, the wife — who was walking — arrived at the Unified police Kearns substation to report what had happened.
"A lethality assessment was conducted with the victim where she scored high risk, noting that the defendant has used a weapon against her, threatened to kill her and she believes he will kill her. The defendant exhibited a complete disregard for the safety of his family," prosecutors wrote in charging documents while requesting that he be held in the Salt Lake County Jail without the possibility of posting bail pending trial.
Domestic violence resources
Help for people in abusive relationships can be found by contacting:
- Utah Domestic Violence Coalition: Utah's confidential statewide, 24-hour domestic violence hotline at 1-800-897-LINK (5465)
- YWCA Women in Jeopardy program: 801-537-8600
- Utah's statewide child abuse and neglect hotline: 1-855-323-DCFS (3237)
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
