OGDEN, Utah, April 8, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — Police responded to a residence in Roy after receiving three calls late Sunday night reporting that several people were arguing outside of the home and trying to fight.
As officers were arriving on scene, in the area of 2020 West and 5600 South, police dispatch got a fourth call from a man who said the male at the home shot at him. Officers saw shattered glass in the driveway of the home and a shell casing was located further in the driveway.
Deryez Santos Tino Torres Espinoza, 30, was arrested and charged on suspicion of:
- Purchase, transfer, possession, use of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony
- Felony discharge of a firearm in the direction of a vehicle, a third-degree felony
- Two counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, second-degree felonies
- Use or possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor
According to a probable cause statement filed in 2nd District Court in Ogden by an officer with the Roy Police Department, as officers tried to make contact at the front door of the home, a man climbed out of a rear window of the basement apartment and walked toward the rear of the home.
He was identified as Deryez Espinoza, and police learned he had multiple warrants for his arrest. He was taken into custody and searched, and a magazine for a firearm was found in his waistband, the charging document says.
Espinoza said he had been inside the home when his girlfriend jumped up and went outside, and he thought she seemed concerned about something, so he followed her outside.
Espinoza told police “he believed four people were driving away from his home yelling at him,” the probable cause statement says. He said he saw broken glass and a magazine next to it, so he picked up the magazine and put it in his waistband.
Ogden Police officers located the victim at his home in Ogden. The victim said he was dropping off the mother of his children at the house in Roy when her boyfriend came out of the house and pointed a firearm at him.
“After some time, the male shot the firearm and it broke out the back window of (the victim’s) vehicle,” the statement says.
The victim told police he doesn’t know the actual name of the suspect and only knows him as “Wacko.” According to the statement, Espinoza is a known gang member and goes by the name “Wacko.” He has been convicted of multiple felonies and is restricted from owning firearms.
A search warrant for the home was obtained and a firearm was located that matched the caliber of the shell casing found in the driveway. The firearm was in Espinoza’s bedroom along with “large quantities of marijuana and methamphetamine,” according to the document.
Espinoza denied any knowledge of a gun or a shooting.
He was booked into Weber County Jail early Monday morning and is being held without bail.
