Two men were charged Monday in connection to the aggravated robbery and death of beauty salon owner Faviola Hernandez on Aug. 15.
According to documents filed in 3rd District Court, one of the men, 19-year-old Miguel Mateos-Martinez, shot Hernandez in the chest while the other, 22-year-old Jesus Alarcon Jiminez, waited outside as a getaway driver.
The robbery occurred as Hernandez, owner of The Shop at 1331 W. California Ave. (1330 South), was cutting a customer's hair. Two unnamed juveniles were also in the salon.
A robber ran in about 4:30 p.m. and made demands, which all four individuals in the store followed. Next, Hernandez walked to a back room of the shop and retrieved her purse, according to the documents.
When Hernandez returned from the back room, the would-be robber opened fire, striking her once in the chest and rupturing her aorta and pulmonary artery, according to court documents.
Surveillance cameras at a nearby elementary school recorded parts of the crime, according to the documents.
Jiminez was arrested Friday after police offered reward money for information leading to the arrest of the robber. He is being held on $500,000 bail. Mateos-Martinez is at large. A warrant of $1 million has been issued for his arrest on the aggravated murder charge, which allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty if circumstances warrant.
Police have asked anyone with information about the crime to call them at 801-799-3000.
Also Monday, Steven Lovendahl, 30, of Copperton was charged with first-degree felony murder in connection with the Aug. 11 slaying of Kevin Sheperd.
Sheperd was shot to death following an argument in an apartment complex near 200 South and 500 East in Copperton.
Sheperd was shot in the arm, but the bullet traveled through his body and lodged in his spine, according to documents filed in 3rd District Court. Friends tried to take him to a nearby hospital but stopped and called paramedics near 9000 South and Ripple Drive (about 4530 West). By the time paramedics arrived, Sheperd had already died.
Lovendahl was ordered by the court to voluntarily surrender to the Salt Lake County Jail to be booked and released prior to an initial court appearance.
According to the FBI, violent crime increased by 14 percent between 2005 and 2006 in Salt Lake City while murders dropped from a total of nine to a total of eight.
According to statistics compiled by the Deseret Morning News, 11 people have been slain in Salt Lake City so far in 2007. A total of 17 have been murdered in Salt Lake County this year and a total of 29 statewide.
E-mail: rpalmer@desnews.com