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SOUTH SALT LAKE — A third person has been charged in connection with an incident at a South Salt Lake apartment complex a year ago in which a man was shot at three dozen times — including with a high-powered rifle — but managed to escape with no injuries.
Shalissia Leonna Prieto, 21, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with obstructing justice, a third-degree felony.
On March 3, 2022, a man at the LeBanke Apartments, 3185 S. 200 East, was outside with his dog about 12:30 a.m. when he noticed a man and woman who appeared to be slashing his tires, according to charging documents. The man went back inside to tell his wife to call police.
When the man went back outside, he saw the man and woman get into a car driven by a second man. He watched the men make "motions that suggested they had firearms," according to the charges. The victim then threw a rock at their car and police say the occupants responded by opening fire.
Police say 36 shots were fired. Five vehicles and part of the apartment complex were damaged, but no one was injured.
A short time after that incident, West Valley police were called to Prieto's residence on a report of a second shooting. "During a search of the residence, officers found two AR-type rifles," charging documents state.
Ballistics tests showed one of the rifles seized matched with the casings collected at the South Salt Lake shooting, according to prosecutors.
Vega, 20, was arrested and later charged in 3rd District Court with 27 felony crimes. In December, he pleaded guilty to being a restricted person in possession of a weapon and four counts of illegally firing a gun. He was sentenced in January to one to 15 years in the Utah State Prison.
Angel Enrique Ramos, 21, the other man who police say was with Vega, pleaded guilty in December to being a restricted person in possession of a gun and was also sentenced to one to 15 years in the Utah State Prison. He was arrested after police listened to phone conversations made from the Salt Lake County Jail between Vega and Ramos during which they discussed the shooting, the charges state.
Now Prieto, who police say was the woman at the apartment complex that night, has been charged.
Prieto "denied slashing any car tires, denied remembering anyone in the car shooting guns, and denied knowing anything about another shooting. Prieto denied knowing about the guns at her house," according to her charges. Even when told that she could be charged for not telling the truth, Prieto "continued to deny knowing about the shooting, and said she didn't remember being there."
Investigators say based on GPS data and surveillance video collected as part of the case, they can show she was with Vega and Ramos that night.
