19-year-old shot by police now under arrest in hospital

A 19-year-old man wounded in a police shooting in West Jordan on Wednesday has been arrested and is under watch at a hospital.

A 19-year-old man wounded in a police shooting in West Jordan on Wednesday has been arrested and is under watch at a hospital. (Brian A Jackson, Shutterstock)


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KEY TAKEAWAYS
  • A 19-year-old man who was shot by police in West Jordan is now under arrest and being watched at a hospital.
  • Hugo Fernando Mora Ayala was arrested for investigation of aggravated assault, drug possession and other potential charges.

WEST JORDAN — The man shot and injured by police in West Jordan Wednesday has now been arrested and is being watched by officers at a local hospital.

Hugo Fernando Mora Ayala, 19, was arrested for investigation of aggravated assault targeting law enforcement, failing to stop for police and drug possession with intent to distribute.

About 11:15 a.m. Wednesday, members of the Utah County Major Crimes Task Force were conducting an investigation in West Jordan when there was a confrontation with a man in a car whom they were trying to take into custody.

Investigators were attempting to serve a search warrant on Ayala's vehicle when he drove away, according to a police booking affidavit. Officers tried to box the car in with their unmarked police vehicles.

"Officers turned on their lights and started to give commands to get out of the vehicle. (Ayala) proceeded to flee around the (officer's) front vehicle where (another) officer was standing with his gun out. (The) officer fired rounds through (Ayala's) windshield," the affidavit states.

The officer was then hit by Ayala's car, "causing him to flip over the hood onto the ground," according to the arrest report. Police say he was treated at the scene for bruising and road rash.

Ayala continued to flee on 7800 South, driving toward Redwood Road. Multiple officers were eventually able to "pin the vehicle and physically take (Ayala) into custody," the affidavit says.

The car's windshield could be seen in a parking lot near 7800 S. Redwood Road with five bullet holes in it. It was wedged between two unarmed police vehicles. The crime scene extended from about 1900 West to 1825 West.

Ayala "sustained a minor graze wound to the head and is still currently being monitored/held by hospital staff and officers," according to the affidavit.

Officers also reported finding heroin in Ayala's vehicle.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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

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