Two more arrests made in Utah gang shooting, stabbing case

Police say a March shooting and stabbing in Kearns was not random street violence, but part of an internal split inside a broader gang ecosystem. Two more men are now in custody, pushing the case to three alleged participants after Unified Police Department gang detectives and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Diego Cruz-Soto, 18, and Angel Reymundo Garcia-Cortes, 20, both of Kearns, on Wednesday, shortly after Jose Enrique Gutierrez-Gonzalez, 28, was taken into custody in Arizona.

The violence broke out around 1:30 p.m. on March 19 near 4100 West and 4850 South, close to 4055 West and 4865 South. Unified police said an adult man was approached by two people, shot multiple times and then stabbed before the suspects fled in a vehicle driven by a third person. Charging documents describe a close-range attack in which one assailant allegedly asked the victim if he banged, then fired what appeared to be a revolver, while the other rushed in with a knife.

The victim survived but was left with serious injuries, including a long bone fracture, hemothorax, liver injury and hollow viscus abdominal trauma. As officers responded, West Kearns Elementary, David Gourley Elementary and Kearns Junior High were placed into secure protocol at the direction of law enforcement. Granite School District said the buildings remained locked down inside, classes continued as usual, and there was never a direct threat to students or staff.

Investigators later said they believed the shooting grew out of internal conflict between separate factions of a street gang. Police have also said the victim’s brother is a gang member serving time in state prison and belongs to the same gang but a different faction, a detail that helped shape the theory that the attack was targeted rather than random. Officers also asked residents to check doorbell and surveillance cameras for possible evidence after the shooting.

Court charging information filed June 12 in 3rd District Court was sealed until the trio could be located and arrested. Each man now faces attempted murder, three counts of discharge of a firearm causing serious injury, obstruction of justice and aggravated assault, while Garcia-Cortes also faces being a restricted person in possession of a gun. With the arrests made and the charges unsealed, the case now turns to whether prosecutors can prove the gang link, the roles each man played, and who fired the shots that turned one afternoon in Kearns into a multi-defendant case.