Magna • Forensic investigators combed the scene of what appears to be a drive-by shooting in Magna on Tuesday afternoon, marking a pool of blood on the sidewalk and searching the area for bullets and shell casings.

With a large crime scene, two victims in the hospital and suspected multiple suspects at large, the investigation has a lot of moving parts, Unified Police Department Det. Chuck Malm said.

About 10 a.m., police responded to the state liquor store at 7250 W. 3500 South on a report of gunshots. They found two victims on the ground, both suffering bullet wounds.

Reports say someone drove up in a car and got into a verbal spat with a 17-year-old boy waiting at the bus stop in front of the liquor store, Malm said.

The driver left, but drove back around 10 minutes later and opened fire. The 17-year-old and a 56-year-old man were both hit.

At about 2 p.m. the adult was upgraded from serious to fair condition. The teen remains in fair condition.

Reports indicate multiple people were in the suspect’s vehicle, Malm said, which is believed to be a dark-colored Nissan, either a small hatchback or SUV. The vehicle was last seen going west on 3500 South, when it took a right and went north on Patrick Drive (7320 West), Malm said.

Malm said the adult male is possibly a state employee, as a state of Utah truck was in the parking lot. Malm said the man might have been picking up trash in the parking lot of the liquor store. An orange 5-gallon bucket with trash was tipped over behind the shattered glass of the bus stop where the man was found, Malm said.

“By all accounts, it appears the state worker was not involved in this, but did get hit,” Malm said.



Malm said it’s not clear if the juvenile knew the suspects, or if the shooting occurred while the car was in motion, stopped, or if any suspects got out of the vehicle.

“Essentially, you’re looking at kind of a drive-by here,” Malm said.



Several of the glass panes of the bus stop were shattered, with two large holes and a small hole in the panes facing the liquor store to the north. A west-facing pane was also shattered. The liquor store does not appear to have been hit by a bullet, Malm said.

Malm said police do not know how many shots in total were fired. A witness who was pulling up to an Auto Zone across the street said he heard about three shots, but did not see the shooting. He declined to identify himself.

For a time, students at three nearby schools — Lake Ridge Elementary, Matheson Junior High and Copper Hills Elementary — sheltered in place as a precaution. The protocols were lifted about 11:30 a.m., school officials tweeted.

More than two dozen investigators remained on scene Tuesday afternoon. A mobile command center had been set up on 3500 South, and a forensic team scoured the area with metal detectors.

(Aubrey Wieber | Salt Lake Tribune) Unified Police investigators search for evidence associated with a suspected drive-by shooting near a state liquor store in Magna that left two people injured on Jan. 16. 2018.

Just to the east of the bus stop was a pool of blood, trickling from the sidewalk into the street. Two bundles of what appeared to be bloodied, crumpled clothing were on either side of the blood stain, identified by police markers. Malm said he was not sure which victim the blood belongs to.

Additional markers were in the roadway among the shattered glass from the bus stop. Malm said police plan to release further information Tuesday.

“We’re canvassing the area trying to find out as much information as we can,” he said.