OREM — A man accused of attacking several people in an Orem restaurant now faces multiple felony charges.
Joshua Oropeza, 21, of Springville, was charged Tuesday in 4th District Court with attempted murder, a second-degree felony; two counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony; and assault, a class A misdemeanor.
On Friday, Oropeza and two others drove to Denny’s, 485 N. State Street, so one of the men with Oropeza could meet his wife, according to charging documents. While Oropeza and the third man were waiting in a truck outside the restaurant, Oropeza “began acting weird and pulled a knife,” the charges state.
Oropeza stabbed the other man in the hand, police stated. A doctor later determined that the man’s injuries “were severe enough that he lost function in his hand due to a severed nerve,” the charges state.
The victim then ran inside the restaurant where he and his friend held the doors and tried to prevent Oropeza from entering, according to the charges. But Oropeza was able to get in, and he chased the man he had stabbed in the hand into the kitchen where he stabbed him again in the neck, forehead and arm, according to the charges, allegedly while saying, “I’ll kill you.”
The stab wound to the back of the man’s neck “was 2-3 inches deep and hit the bone,” according to a police affidavit.
Two others then tried to hold Oropeza but were also injured in the struggle, one person being stabbed in the arm and the other breaking an ankle, the charges state. The man stabbed in the arm was a customer in the restaurant. He “was told by the doctor he was stabbed with such force, it chipped a piece off of his arm bone,” the affidavit states.
Oropeza also tried stabbing a fourth person, another customer who tried to help, but missed, the charges state.
One of the men who was with Oropeza when they arrived at the restaurant told police that “Joshua appeared to be under the influence of illegal narcotics when he looked at how dilated his pupils were,” according to the charges.
Prosecutors noted in charging documents that Oropeza had been released from juvenile parole in August when he turned 21. He had been serving time for a similar case in 2016 in which he asked a man for a ride, and then “began to stab him repeatedly in the neck and chest area” after the man refused to buy Oropeza’s drugs, the charges state.
“Joshua has shown if he is allowed to be in society, he struggles with drug addiction and cannot be a contributing member to society. Joshua is currently 21 years of age and already has two separate cases where he has stabbed multiple people in attempts to kill or permanently disable them,” according to charging documents.