Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- The Utah Court of Appeals ruled Tyson Conner Rocco should serve a prison sentence as he maintained gang ties violating probation.
- It said the prison sentence is not for gang ties, but for his violent history and guilty plea in a drive-by shooting.
- The 2021 drive-by shooting where Rocco was the driver injured two Midvale boys, ages 13 and 14.
SALT LAKE CITY — The driver in a 2021 drive-by shooting that injured two Midvale boys, 13 and 14, will serve his full sentence after the Utah Court of Appeals denied his request to allow him again to serve probation instead.
Tyson Conner Rocco was sentenced to up to life in prison in July 2021, but the court suspended that prison sentence in favor of a jail sentence and probation — including a prohibition on gang involvement during probation.
Within a few months, 3rd District Judge Paul Parker determined in a hearing that lasted multiple days that Rocco had violated a probation order to stay away from gangs. The judge then imposed the original sentence of five years to life in prison for discharge of a firearm with serious injury, a first-degree felony, and one to 15 years for discharge of a firearm with injury, a second-degree felony. Both charges also included a gang enhancement.
Rocco, 22, argued that there were erroneous findings by the judge and he should be allowed to serve his probation sentence instead, but Utah's appellate judges disagreed.
On April 16, 2021, someone in the car Rocco was driving asked two boys where they were from, and then shots were fired from the car at the boys before they answered. Both boys survived, one was shot twice and the other once.
The shooting occurred near 8800 South and 200 East after the two boys got off a TRAX train at the historic Sandy station. Family acquaintances reported to officers that Rocco may have been involved. Witnesses said there were three men in the car, each with hoodies pulled up and bandanas over their faces.
An agent testified that Rocco had started an independent gang and continued to be a documented member of the gang, which was involved in shootings. Social media photos were also used in the hearing to show he was still involved with gangs.
Prosecutors cited that he was wearing a red sweatshirt in a profile picture, and when he was arrested, he was wearing a red mask or bandana. They also said audio recordings he posted on SoundCloud referenced gangs and gang activity. Rocco claimed that his wearing a University of Utah hoodie or liking specific types of music was not prohibited.
The appeals court determined there was enough evidence of gang activity. It said there only needed to be one violation in order for probation to be revoked — and the district court decided based on "far more."
"To be clear, Rocco was sentenced to prison because, with a troubling history of violent offenses, he pled guilty to serious charges in connection with the drive-by shooting of two children," the opinion said.
It said his actions communicated that he was an ongoing risk to the community.
