Man charged with downtown SLC murder

A reportedly homeless man has been charged with stabbing a man to death near The Gateway mall.

Harlin Argelio Ramos, 30, was charged with murder Friday in 3rd District Court. The court documents describe him as a transient, and shed a lot more light on the night he allegedly killed a Chicago man who had just gotten out of a movie.

On April 19, Joaquin Gonzales, 33, and a female saw a late movie at The Gateway, and when the movie let out at 12:45 a.m., she drove Gonzales back to his car at 536 W. 100 South. While they were still talking in her car, a man approached them and opened Gonzales' door, according to the charges.

Gonzales jumped out of the car, said "Hey dude, what are you doing?" and the two started fighting, the charges read. During the fight, the female heard Gonzales say "Help me, I have two kids. Please don't kill me," the charges add.

She got out and saw the man on top of Gonzales, who was saying "He's stabbing me, he's stabbing me. Help me!" according to the charges. She retrieved a stun gun from her glove box, grabbed the back of the suspect's jacket and shocked him in the back of his neck; the suspect swung at her and she ran back to the car and called 911, the charges add.

When a police officer arrived, he found Gonzales lying on the ground without a pulse. The medical examiner determined he had died of multiple sharp force injuries to his torso.

Detectives at the scene found two backpacks with an identification card with Ramos' name and photo, according to the charges. They later found him at a local motel and arrested him.

Ramos told the detectives that he had approached the car and used a knife to repeatedly stab the passenger, according to the charges.

mmcfall@sltrib.com

Twitter: @mikeypanda