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A teenager charged with killing another teenager in the parking lot of a Salt Lake City Sears store more than a year ago pleaded guilty to a lesser charge this week.
Alexis Rodriguez was 17 when his cousin, 24-year-old Luis Salazar Mendoza, gunned down 16-year-old Diego Mendoza (no relation) on Jan.6, 2008, near a taco stand at 754 S. State St.
Rodriguez, who encouraged his cousin to pull the trigger, was charged in adult court with multiple crimes, including first-degree felony counts of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder. The charges against Rodriguez were amended to second-degree felony attempted murder and discharging a firearm from a vehicle, a third-degree felony.
Rodriguez on Monday pleaded guilty in 3rd District Court to the attempted murder charge; the firearm charge was dismissed.
He faces up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 10 before Judge Robin Reese.
Rodriguez's plea marks the last of three defendants charged in connection with Diego Mendoza's murder.
Luis Salazar Mendoza, 24, was sentenced in March to a term of 30 years to life for the killing. He pleaded guilty to first-degree felony aggravated murder and first-degree felony attempted murder with injury for shooting and wounding 23-year-old Eder Orona.
According to testimony at a 2008 preliminary hearing, the two shooting victims and a third man, Joel Mendoza, were patronizing a taco stand outside the Sears store when they started an argument with the defendants.
Joel Mendoza, Diego Mendoza's older brother, approached Luis Salazar Mendoza and asked him what gang he was with, according to police.
When Luis Salazar Mendoza and Rodriguez told the men they weren't in a gang, the other three hurled a string of insults.
As the situation escalated, Luis Salazar Mendoza shot Orona four times with a .40-caliber Glock handgun, according to court testimony and charging documents.
Rodriguez allegedly encouraged Luis Salazar Mendoza to finish killing Orona after four shots fired into him didn't kill him.
"Kill him! He's still alive," Rodriguez told Luis Salazar Mendoza, according to charging documents. Luis Salazar Mendoza held his gun to Orona's head, but the gun failed to fire when he pulled the trigger. The man then told Orona, "You're [expletive] lucky," the court documents.
Luis Salazar Mendoza then shot Diego Mendoza seven times. He also shot at Joel Mendoza, who escaped injury by running away.
The two defendants drove off and were arrested at a Woods Cross motel.
Gang investigators who discussed the case at an April gang conference in Sandy said Joel Mendoza and Orona are documented members of the Crazy Ass Mexicans street gang, while Luis Salazar Mendoza and Rodriguez have ties to a gang called the Venomous Surenos Klique.
Investigators at the conference highlighted the crime as a recent example of how gang violence has recently become more visible in Utah.
A 24-year-old woman who served as the getaway driver for Rodriguez and Luis Salazar Mendoza was sentenced in February 2008 to 78 days in jail and deportation for her role in the crime.
Michelle Ramirez admitted to third-degree felony attempted obstructing justice for lying to police in connection with Mendoza's slaying.
After detectives linked the car used to drive from the murder scene to Ramirez, she admitted being the owner, but impeded the homicide investigation by giving false information, according to court documents.
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