Utahn charged with committing 2 violent crimes within same week

A Tooele police vehicle is pictured in Tooele on Monday, Dec. 28, 2020. | Steve Griffin, Deseret News

TOOELE — A Tooele man who police say was involved in two violent criminal incidents in the same week now faces several felony charges.

On Jan. 8, police were called to a large fight near 100 N. Broadway Ave. in Tooele.

“Dispatch advised that there were approximately 50 people fighting in the street, and also advised that somebody was possibly stabbed,” according to a police affidavit.

Officers found a man at a nearby convenience store who was “severely beaten, with blood coming from his face.”

Police were able to identify Christopher DeAngel Gomez, 22, as one of the attackers and found him at a nearby bar, the affidavit states.

Police say Gomez told them the man he assaulted had stabbed his friend. Officers collected surveillance video from a nearby business that shows Gomez punching the victim six times and kicking or stomping on his head, torso and legs eight times, according to the affidavit.

“In the video you can see the assaulted male posturing with his arms while appearing to be unconscious, indicative of severe head injury,” the affidavit says.

In the video, Gomez also appears to take something from the victim’s pocket, police said. When officers asked Gomez if the item he took was a wallet, he replied, “It could’ve been,” the affidavit states.

Gomez was charged in 3rd District Court Wednesday with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, and aggravated assault resulting in serious injury, a second-degree felony.

In a second case, Gomez was charged Wednesday with attempted aggravated arson and attempted aggravated burglary, both second-degree felonies, for an incident that occurred on Jan. 14.

Gomez went to the home of a man with whom he had had a disagreement and poured gasoline in different spots in the attic that he accessed by climbing a ladder on the outside of the house, according to Tooele police.

One of the residents thought he heard someone on the roof and went outside to check. The resident saw a man running from the area and throwing what appeared to be a gas can, police said. The resident could then smell a strong odor of gas coming from his home and called police.

Officers found Gomez’s car parked out front and it was still running, according to police.

from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2M8o3hY