Man who killed two at a Draper Airbnb party found guilty of murder

DRAPER, Utah — The man who shot and killed two people at an Airbnb party in Draper has been found guilty of aggravated murder. 

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill announced Monday that 19-year-old Daniel Martinez is guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. 

Sentencing for Martinez is scheduled for July 18, 2024. He will face 25 years to life.

“We were very happy with the verdict that came back as a conviction from that absolute tragedy from that incident,” Gill said. 

The incident

According to a DA office press release, on April 3, 2022, Martinez was at a party at an Airbnb in Draper. The manager of the Airbnb came to the property to end the party. Martinez and a friend were throwing beer bottles into the street. Another party-goer, Austin Powell, confronted Martinez, asking him to stop breaking the bottles. After an argument, Martinez fired a gun, shooting Powell and another victim, Jonathan Fuentes. 

Related: Ogden shooting sends one person to the hospital Saturday

Powell died at the scene. Fuentes died later that day at a hospital. 

The dangers of growing gun violence

There’s been an increase of this kind of gun violence in the Salt Lake County community, Gill said. 

“We’re a growing city, we have a proliferation of guns in our community. And unfortunately we have individuals who have access to a weapon. We’ve seen more and more of that gun violence occurring in our community.”

“Whenever you pull out a gun and you’re not a responsible gun owner… Unfortunately [that] ends up in tragic loss of life.”