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SALT LAKE CITY — Criminal charges were filed Tuesday against a man accused of shooting a convenience store clerk in an unprovoked attack.
Jose Rodolfo Barajas-Macias, 25, is charged in 3rd District Court with aggravated robbery and shooting someone resulting in serious injury, first-degree felonies; and possession of a weapon by a restricted person, a second-degree felony.
On Dec. 26, Barajas-Macias, went into a 7-Eleven, 414 E. 200 South, in Salt Lake, with three other men. Two of the men were seen on surveillance video later "taking food and/or drinks from the shelves and either eating them or concealing them," according to charging documents.
Barajas-Macias is seen in surveillance video covering his head with his hoodie, covering his face with a bandana, taking a pair of gloves from a shelf and putting them on, and then shooting the clerk, the charges state.
"(He) walked up to the counter, unprovoked and shot the victim in the stomach before leaving," according to the charges. "(The clerk) reported the male did not say anything to him and there was not a conflict before being shot. (The clerk) reported he will be having spinal surgery next week."
While detectives were reviewing surveillance video, they received an attempt-to-locate alert out of West Jordan for Barajas-Macias in connection with a stolen vehicle case. Police looked at a prior mug shot for Barajas-Macias and identified him as the shooter, the charges allege. He was located and arrested Friday.
Barajas-Macias was also charged in Davis County's 2nd District Court in September with two counts of drug possession with intent to distribute and obstruction of justice, according to court records.
In July, he pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of child in a case that was filed in 2020. A judge ordered him to be released from custody after his plea. He was sentenced on Sept. 12 — 10 days after being arrested in Davis County — to a term of one to 15 years in the Utah State Prison. But the prison sentence was suspended and Barajas-Macias was instead placed on four years of probation and given credit for time he had already served since his 2020 arrest.
