This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Seven months after an egg-throwing 16-year-old boy was killed in a Salt Lake City drive-by shooting, two men have been charged with his murder.
Fortunato Villagrana, 23, and Martin Antonio Cruz, 22, were each charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with one count of first-degree felony murder, one count of first-degree felony discharge of a firearm with serious bodily injury and two counts of third-degree felony discharge of a firearm.
In the early hours of July 5, the victim, Paris Gustin, was in the front passenger seat as he and two other 16-year-olds drove around the Rose Park area throwing eggs at people and things, Gustin's friends told police.
When a white car pulled up beside Gustin and his friends, he leaned out of the passenger side and threw an egg through the open driver-side window of the car, which struck the driver, charging documents state.
A short time later, the same car passed the teens heading in the opposite direction, made a U-turn and began following them, charges state. The teenage driver in Gustin's car accelerated, but as he began to turn right at 600 North and 1000 West, someone in the other car opened fire, he told police. Another teen who was in the back seat, said he looked back and saw "a silhouette of someone leaning out the front passenger window," charges state.
Gustin yelled out that he had been shot and the teenage driver noticed his friend was bleeding, charges state. The teens kept driving, ending up at near 1100 West and about 1050 South. When police arrived at about 4:15 a.m., Gustin was pronounced dead. The car the teens were driving had two bullet holes in it and two flat tires, which appeared to have been struck by bullets, documents state. Officers found five 7.62-caliber shell casings and an egg carton in the intersection at 600 North and 1000 West.
Police interviewed 37 witnesses over the next few months, charging documents state, two of whom reported that on the morning of July 5, they saw Villagrana "upset" near his residence. Villagrana told them some boys in a car had thrown eggs at him and his friends, charges say. He walked away returned with a "big gun," charges state, saying that he was going to go look for the boys.
The witnesses said Villagrana got into the passenger seat of his mother's white car and Cruz got into the driver seat, charges say. When they found the boys, Villagrana shot into their car, a witness told police.
Officers later found the white car, registered to Villagrana's mother, and found pieces of egg shells throughout the driver side interior, charges state.
On Feb. 3, Cruz told police that when Gustin threw the egg into the white car, he was a passenger and Villagrana was driving. Cruz told police that the egg hit Villagrana's ear and went into the back seat, according to charges.
Cruz said Villagrana then drove to his house to get a gun, which Cruz believed was an AK-47, charges state. Villagrana instructed Cruz to drive the white car and Villagrana got into the front passenger seat, charges say.
When they found the teens' car, Cruz made a U-turn and chased it, charges say. Cruz told police he had maneuvered the car within 12 inches of the teens' car's back bumper, when Villagrana leaned part of his body out the window and fired multiple shots into the teens' car, charges state.
A medical examiner said Gustin suffered a gunshot wound to his head and another to his back.
Cruz has been booked into the Salt Lake County jail with bail set at $1 million cash-only. His initial court appearance is set for Feb. 10. A judge issued a $1 million arrest warrant for Villagrana on Tuesday.
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