Colorado man fired 17 shots, killing man in southern Utah property dispute, charges say

One man is dead and another man is charged with murder after police say he fired 17 shots at a man, killing him during a property dispute in Monticello Sunday.

One man is dead and another man is charged with murder after police say he fired 17 shots at a man, killing him during a property dispute in Monticello Sunday. (Sebastian Duda, Shutterstock)


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MONTICELLO — An alleged property dispute ended with one man being shot and killed Sunday in San Juan County.

Police say Sage Jennings Daves, 22, fired 17 shots at Lemuel Prion, 61, hitting him multiple times.

Daves, of Egnar, Colorado, was charged Monday in 7th District Court with murder, a first-degree felony; plus trespassing, marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia, class B misdemeanors.

About 8:40 a.m. Sunday, Daves received a call that Prion was "causing issues" on property owned by Daves' family. "Sage Daves left his place of employment in Dove Creek, Colorado, and drove about 20 miles to Lemuel Prion's residence," according to a police booking affidavit. "Sage states he went over to talk to Lemuel over a property dispute."

Daves told police that Prion "threatened to burn Sage's family alive" and then threatened him with a pitchfork, telling Daves that he was going to "gut" him, the affidavit alleges.

"Sage then ran to his truck and grabbed his gun from the center console. Sage then states Lemuel stabbed the front of his truck with the pitchfork and continued to threaten Sage. Sage pointed the gun at Lemuel to get him to stop, but Lemuel instead lunged at Sage with the pitchfork. Sage shot 17 rounds at Lemuel, striking him multiple times," the affidavit states.

Prion was pronounced dead at the scene.

Additional information about the incident was not immediately available.

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Pat Reavy is a longtime police and courts reporter. He joined the KSL.com team in 2021, after many years of reporting at the Deseret News and KSL NewsRadio before that.

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