Man accused of shooting co-worker in the leg surrenders to police

A man accused of shooting a woman in the leg has been arrested by Salt Lake police.

A man accused of shooting a woman in the leg has been arrested by Salt Lake police. (TheCorgi, Shutterstock)


Save Story

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — Police arrested a man after they say he shot a co-worker in the leg.

Hector Pacheco, 18, "discharged a firearm causing serious bodily injury to the victim" near 250 South and 200 East about 11:40 p.m. on Friday, a police booking affidavit states. A 21-year-old woman, a co-worker of Pacheco, was taken to a local hospital to be treated for a gunshot wound to the leg.

Pacheco was charged Wednesday in 3rd District Court with illegal discharge of a firearm, a second-degree felony.

The woman told police that she and Pacheco had gotten off work and were hanging out in parking lot, then left to get beer at a nearby convenience store.

"(She) states when they got back to the parking lot, she became upset that she could not find her keys, and asked Pacheco if he took them. Pacheco got upset at the accusation of stealing her keys, and they got into a verbal altercation," according to charging documents.

The woman called relatives to bring her a spare key. She then got into her car and Pacheco got into the passenger seat.

"As they were approaching 200 E. 300 South, she heard a single gunshot that caused her 'head to ring.' (The woman) asked Pacheco why he shot her, and Pacheco did not respond," the charges state.

Officers searched the area but could not find Pacheco. On Tuesday, however, he contacted police and turned himself in. Pacheco went back to work the next day, but other employees started talking about Pacheco shooting someone. When confronted, "Pacheco responded that he had and claimed it was an accident," according to the charges.

He then agreed to turn himself in.

Most recent Police & Courts stories

Related topics

Pat Reavy, KSLPat Reavy
Pat Reavy interned with KSL in 1989 and has been a full-time journalist for either KSL or Deseret News since 1991. For the past 25 years, he has worked primarily the cops and courts beat.
KSL.com Beyond Series
KSL.com Beyond Business

KSL Weather Forecast

KSL Weather Forecast
Play button