The shooting happened after the four men allegedly chased the teens for miles in Utah before pulling up alongside them and opening fire into their vehicle.
A 17-year-old girl is dead after a frightening chase ended in a drive-by shooting in Utah. On Saturday, four men were arrested and charged in the girls’ death.
Iron County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the scene on the night of January 17 after reports of gunfire aimed at the teen’s red truck and an injured victim, as covered by ABC affiliate KUTV.
The girl was still alive when they arrived and began life-saving efforts, but she died shortly after being transported to the hospital.
Bucks County District Attorney’s Office
Woman Admits to Falsely Reporting Attempted Rape After Innocent Man Spent a Month in Jail: DA
View Story
According to the police investigation, they determined that the teen driver was pursued by an unknown vehicle for approximately five miles before that vehicle pulled up alongside hers and opened fire, striking the teen.
As a result of being struck, she lost control of her vehicle, crashing through a vinyl fence and coming to a stop near an intersection. Another 17-year-old girl was in the vehicle at the time of the shooting, but was not seriously injured.
On January 19, Fox affiliate KSTU revealed the identities of the four men suspected to be involved with the shooting. Booking documents at the Iron County Sheriff’s Office detail the suspects as Michael Hess-Witucki, 23, Ethan Galloway, 23, Aldric Felipe, 21, and Matthew Sorber-Petrie, 22.
Metropolitan Detention Center
Mom Who Let Her Teenage Son Take Fall for Murder She Committed Finally Pleads Guilty
View Story
According to the documents, Hess-Witucki is the suspected driver at the time of the shooting, while Gallow is believed to have been the shooter. The gun used, per police, belonged to Sorber-Petrie, with police believing that both he and Felipe knew the alleged driver and shooter intended to use it to commit a crime.
All four men were arrested on Saturday and charged in relation to the shooting. Hess-Witucki and Galloway were both hit with one count of murder and 12 counts of felony discharge of a firearm for the 12 shots fired. Felipe and Sorber-Petrie are looking at obstruction of justice charges.
Police said they were able to back-trace the chase after the surviving victim described the suspects’ vehicle and where they first encountered them. That enabled investigators to find witnesses who were able to ID the vehicle, a darker-colored SUV, and thus lead them to the suspects at an apartment complex.
Connecticut State Police
Woman Sent Boyfriend 1600 Threatening Messages Before He Was Struck and Killed: Police
View Story
When police arrived at the complex, Hess-Witucki, Galloway, and Sorber-Petrie all tried to flee, but were quickly apprehended and picked up, said police, per CrimeOnline. Ultimately, both Hess-Witucki and Gallow confessed to their suspected roles in the shooting in a post-Miranda interview with police.
According to the suspects, they believed the girls were stalking them after having seen their truck in the neighborhood. Investigators said the victim and her passenger were in the area for entirely unrelated reasons.
“These two young ladies … were just out kind of joyriding around the valley,” said Iron County Sheriff Ken Carpenter. “This was a needless death, and I think that it’s hard on everybody. It’s completely senseless for this to have taken place … and that makes it hard. When you look at two 17-year-old girls that were just enjoying life and having a good time and that life is cut short.”
NBC2
Man Finds Sister’s Dismembered Body, Believes She Was Eaten by Her ‘Hungry’ Dogs
View Story
