One critical after house party shooting in West Valley City

WEST VALLEY CITY — A shooting at a big house party left a juvenile male in critical condition. West Valley police Lt. Bill Merritt says officers were alerted to the shooting while working an accident nearby on Bangerter Highway around 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning.

Merritt says the officers didn’t initially know where the shots were coming from, but traced shell casings in the area to a residence in a cul-de-sac on Edgewater Circle, off of Hawkeye.

“We had people calling from all over the place so we didn’t  quite know where our crime scene was gonna be or what was happening, but as we arrived we found a trail of spent shell casings that went down Hawkeye Drive for about the length of a full city block, so we had quite the crime scene on Hawkeye Drive.

Merritt says when officers arrived they saw dozens of people at what is described as a house party, some of them jumped the fence when they saw police.

There was alcohol and unwanted guests at the house party where the shooting took place, according to Merritt where a suspect, a male juvenile pulled out a gun and fired shots at the victim who was sitting inside a vehicle.  The victim was transported in critical condition, but has since been upgraded to stable, but critical.  Doctors believe the victim will survive his injuries. 

Merritt says the victim and suspect knew each other and they are investigating the possibility that this shooting was gang related.  He says officers are reaching out to the public for any video surveillance or information about the case, they can call West Valley City police.

 

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