DRAPER — David Van admits he was out looking to cause trouble when he unloaded 17 rounds into a crowd of people outside the Fun Dome in 2003, injuring six and terrorizing many others.
Among the injured was a four-year-old boy who was attending a family birthday party.
During his first hearing before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, Van offered more of an explanation that an apology for what he did.
With his parents and siblings looking on, Van explained he was out looking for rival gang members. "I, uh, did what I did just because when I was younger, I was getting into that gang-banging stuff," Van told a parole board member.
On March 29, 2003, a 16-year-old Van and a friend ran into a group they thought were rival gang members. Van said he drew his gun and fired indiscriminately into the crowd because "there was many of them, and I didn't want to get beat up, my partner and I, so I defended myself, so I pulled out my gun and shot them."
"Why didn't you run?" asked board of pardons officer Richard Sullivan.
Van said he was just doing "crazy stuff" but that he has grown up, getting a job in prison and going to school, and that he wanted to some day start a family.
Van was sentenced to three-years-to-life for attempted murder and two one-to-15 year sentences for aggravated assault.
Prison officials report once Van entered the prison system, he immediately began his gang activity, including having the name of his Asian gang tattooed on his stomach. Van was also moved to maximum security due to problems with him in prison.
Sullivan said that kind of behavior hardly reflects an earnest desire to reform.
The board recommended that Van use his time in prison to change his ways and to develope more "empathy" for his victims.
Van offered no expression of remorse to the people injured in the shooting, but agreed that he needed to make an effort.
Van is expected to serve at least 10 years of his sentence. His next parole hearing has been set for 2013, at which time Van will be 26.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com