WOODS CROSS — A Salt Lake man who police say encouraged a 17-year-old to fire several rounds at another group following a failed drug deal now faces serious criminal charges.
Jose Delarosa, 30, was charged Monday in 2nd District Court with aggravated robbery and four counts of attempted aggravated murder, first-degree felonies; theft by receiving stolen property and three counts of discharge of a firearm with intent to injure, second-degree felonies; possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony; and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a class B misdemeanor.
Randall Antonio Reyes-Ramos, 17, is listed in charging documents as a co-defendant.
On April 14, Delarosa and Reyes-Ramos arranged to buy marijuana in the parking lot of the Smith’s Food and Drug, 614 W. 2600 South, from another group, according to charging documents.
But when two of the victims got into Delarosa’s car to make the deal, “Delarosa then pulled a gun, pointed it at (a victim’s) head, and told him to empty his pockets,” the charges state.
Reyes-Ramos, who was hiding in the back of Delarosa’s car, then tried to grab the victims, according to the charges. The two victims were able to get out of the vehicle, however, and ran back to their car where two more friends were waiting.
“(One man) heard Delarosa tell Ramos to kill them. Ramos began to fire the handgun at all four of them while they and Delarosa drove away. The victims went to the hospital, doing what they could to slow the bleeding,” according to the charging documents.
Police say 10 shots were fired. One victim was hit in the arm and the other in the leg. Investigators believe Reyes-Ramos fired all the shots.
After his arrest, Delarosa claimed to police the victims refused to hand over the marijuana and “that Ramos came to him (and) asked for the gun because he felt disrespected. He admitted to handing the gun to Ramos who then opened fire on the victims — although he claimed that, after handing the gun, he told Ramos” in Spanish not to kill, “even though the victims heard the opposite in English.”
Detectives reviewed surveillance video from nearby businesses and saw the gunman run off after firing the shots. Police searched the area he was last seen on the video and “found a fake Social Security card and a fake permanent resident card,” according to the charges.
Investigators found out Reyes-Ramos attempted to use the fake Social Security card to apply for a job in Utah County, the charges state. Based on that application, they were able to identify him.
“Police visited the school where Ramos had been attending. A school staff member identified Ramos from the fake and discarded permanent resident card. She explained that he had been expelled for fighting and he was becoming involved in a gang,” investigators wrote in the charges.
Delarosa was then identified through the Snapchat account he used to arrange the drug deal with his victims, police say.
“Discovering that Delarosa owned a vape shop, police visited the shop and saw the suspect vehicle in the parking lot. Delarosa is a member of the same gang as Ramos and they follow each other on social media,” according to the charges.
The gun used was determined to be stolen and ballistics testing showed the same gun was used in another undisclosed crime, the charges say.
Court documents also indicate that Delarosa has a pending “federal complaint for a federal gun charge in another matter. There is a detainer on him.”