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- Three documented gang members were charged Friday in a Midvale drive-by shooting.
- The three were pursued by police, leading to a high-speed chase on Bangerter Highway.
MIDVALE — Criminal charges were filed Friday against three known gang members in connection with a drive-by shooting.
On Dec. 27, a Unified police officer was near 8250 S. 700 West when he heard multiple gunshots.
"The sound grew louder until he heard bullets impacting objects and ricocheting near him," according to charging documents. The officer spotted a black Subaru Legacy driving by at a high rate of speed and he began chasing it.
"The pursuit continued at approximately 80 to 100 mph until they were on Bangerter Highway, where (the officer) had to cease his pursuit due to his rear tire going flat," the charges say.
Other officers continued chasing the vehicle and watched as "items resembling firearms … were thrown from the vehicle" near the 7800 South off-ramp. "The Subaru attempted to exit and make a U-turn at 7000 South, where it collided with several vehicles and was disabled," police noted.
Three men and two teenage boys were taken into custody. Police collected three firearms along the Bangerter Highway.
At the apartment where it was determined the shots were fired, 16 casings were found, and "multiple bullets entered through windows and walls of the apartments," court documents state. No injuries were reported.
Christian Pena Renteria, 19, of Midvale; Miguel Guzman Garcia, 18, of Sandy; and Luis David Quintana-Melo, 20, of Herriman, were each charged Friday in 3rd District Court with 10 counts of illegal discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony. Quintana-Melo and Renteria were also charged with being restricted people in possession of a firearm, a second-degree felony. Each man was also charged with evidence tampering and criminal mischief. Two teen boys were also taken into custody.
Last year, Renteria was arrested following a drive-by shooting and a police chase that resulted in a 2-year-old bystander being hit by a bullet fragment. He pleaded guilty in that case to illegal discharge of a firearm and aggravated assault and is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 16. Garcia, who was 16 at the time, was also charged in that case as a juvenile with four counts of discharge of a firearm, according to juvenile court records.
Renteria was also involved in at least two other shooting investigations in Sandy in 2022, according to juvenile court records, including one in which he was driving a car when a 14-year-old boy in the back seat accidentally shot a 15-year-old boy in the front passenger seat.
Quintana-Melo was also involved in a shooting investigation at a Maverik, 7728 S. Main, in July 2022 that resulted in one person being shot in the leg and foot, according to court records.
