A pair of gang members from the Wasatch Back have been charged in connection to two different shootings in Salt Lake County.
Jesus Joshua Payan-Mendoza of Heber and Jorge Luis Crecencio-Gonzalez of Kamas were both charged in January with two counts of aggravated murder and two counts of felony discharge of a firearm. The men were charged in connection to a gang related shooting outside the Murray Fashion Place mall that left two people injured.
Since that time investigations by Unified Police Department in the Greater Salt Lake area have resulted in more Felony charges for the men.
Ballistic tests by the UPD has determined that the gun used at the January 13th mall shooting was the same one used just one week earlier at a shooting in the Taylorsville Cemetery.
On January 6th a group of Nortenos gang members were gathered at the Taylorsville Cemetery near the grave of Will Ryan; a former member who had been shot and killed. According to police witness’s Gonzalez and Mendoza both members of the Surenos gang attacked those gathered at the grave site. Gonzalez drove a car near the grave where the Nortenos were standing, then Mendoza got out of the vehicle and shot six bullets towards the rival gang members gathered at the headstone. Members of both gangs then fled.
No one was injured at the Taylorsville Cemetery shooting but one person told police he heard Mendoza brag that he believed he killed someone because the gun was fired from such a close range.
Both men have been charged with 1st degree felony Attempted Murder as well as six felony Discharge of a Firearm.
