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CEDAR CITY — A man already in custody in connection with a shooting incident near Cedar City is facing a potential additional charge for allegedly trying to obstruct the investigation into another recent shooting.
On Aug. 6, Iron County sheriff's deputies responded to a reported shooting in the Three Peaks Recreation area. A man told police he agreed to give a woman THC vape cartridges in exchange for sex, according to a police booking affidavit. The woman was picked up at a gas station in Cedar City and insisted on going to Three Peaks, the man told investigators.
The man says he immediately noticed he was being followed, but the woman told him not to worry about it as she continued texting someone on her phone, the affidavit states. But when they pulled off into an area at Three Peaks, "the vehicle following them pulled behind him and began shooting," according to the affidavit.
The woman got out of the car and ran to the vehicle that was following and drove off.
Detectives found evidence of a shooting at the Three Peaks location. They also took the victim's car to search for evidence and noted "approximately 20 holes consistent with bullet holes" in the back of the vehicle, the affidavit states. "One hole, consistent with a bullet hole, traveled from the back of the vehicle to the front windshield indicating a near miss to where (the man) would have been sitting."
Two days later, detectives reviewed a recorded phone conversation between a woman and 19-year-old Miguel Josue Cruz at the Iron County Correctional Facility where Cruz is an inmate. During the conversation, the woman makes statements that some people they both knew "did something and got put in a dangerous situation," the affidavit states. She then talked about some items being "buried."
The woman further told Cruz about a woman who got into a car with a man with the intention of "them talking for a second and then they were going to, you know... Instead he, when (she) got in, the driver drove away. (She) started texting (another man) saying 'get me out of here, get me out of here.' So the guy pulled over and (a man) started raining," according to the affidavit.
Police say "during monitored phone calls of Miguel, he advises (the woman) to tell (the woman who was in the car) to not say anything and she would receive payment." The affidavit states that Cruz also told the woman to pass along the message that "the charges filed against her would not stand in court."
Because of his alleged efforts to hinder the efforts of detectives trying to locate evidence in the investigation, Cruz was charged Friday in 5th District Court with obstructing justice, a second-degree felony. Cruz was originally arrested in February, along with five others, in connection with another shooting. He was charged in 5th District Court with seven counts of illegal discharge of a firearm, a second-degree felony.
At the time, police said it was the second of two recent drive-by shootings in a neighborhood northwest of Cedar City.
