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ST. GEORGE — The second of two men wanted in connection with a business burglary during which shots were fired has been arrested, St. George police announced Wednesday.
Jason Fierro, 26, who police said should be considered armed and dangerous, was located about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday and arrested. No other information about his arrest was immediately available.
The investigation began about midnight Monday when emergency dispatchers received a call from a man claiming he heard two gunshots near Red Cliffs Drive in St. George.
"Dispatch advised the reporting party was not very forthcoming with information," according to a police booking affidavit. "Dispatch was able to run the phone number the male was calling from and it returned to a male named Jason Fierro."
Fierro was already wanted in connection with a theft investigation, police learned. Detectives looking into the call of shots being fired later found surveillance video of Fierro firing two rounds into a glass door at the Sunglasses Hut, walking in and taking about $3,000 worth of sunglasses, and then fleeing in a car driven by another man, the affidavit alleges.
Tuesday, a St. George officer spotted the vehicle believed to be the getaway car, the affidavit states. He followed it and then pulled it over on a traffic violation. The officer talked to the driver, Fernando Octavio Morales Castanon, 27, about whether he knew Fierro.
"He admitted Jason was a friend of his. I told him I had video footage of him picking up Jason from (the) Ramada Inn," police wrote in the affidavit.
Castanon admitted to picking up Fierro but claimed he didn't know anything about a crime being committed. However, when police checked the messages on his phone, "in one of the messages, Fernando warned Jason there were cops outside. At this time, it was confirmed Fernando was in fact the getaway driver from the shooting location," the affidavit says.
Police searched Castanon and his vehicle and reported recovering a gun and drugs.
Officers then obtained a search warrant for the home Fierro was believed to be in and had the St. George police SWAT team serve it. As the SWAT team was getting ready, another officer questioned Castanon and "was able to get more honesty" out of him, according to the affidavit. Castanon allegedly admitted to driving Fierro to and from the burglary.
"He said he took Jason home and admitted to tipping him off about the police presence as we were looking for him. During the interview, Fernando admitted he had some of the stolen sunglasses at his residence. He also admitted to me he had an additional 9mm handgun, a .308 rifle and a shotgun at his residence," the affidavit states.
The SWAT team serving the warrant on Castanon and Fierro's home found multiple drugs and weapons, according to the arrest report. Castanon was arrested for investigation of aggravated burglary, theft, five counts of possession of a gun by a restricted person, drug possession with intent to distribute, and six counts of drug possession.
Tuesday afternoon, police issued an alert for Fierro, asking for the public to be on the lookout for him.
"Jason Fierro is considered armed and dangerous. Do not approach," police warned.
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