COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, Utah, May 27, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Cottonwood Heights Police have named a person of interest in the homicide of a man workers found in a credit union parking lot in Cottonwood Heights on Friday morning.
Cottonwood Heights Police Department Sgt. Ryan Shosted said construction workers in the area noticed the man inside a blue passenger car at Mountain America Credit Union, 6440 S. 3000 East, at approximately 7 a.m. The victim has now been identified as 31-year-old Mauricio Martinez.
CHPD tweeted Friday evening it needs help locating 32-year-old Alejandro Guardado, who is believed to have been driving the victim’s car at the time of the shooting. Guardado is considered a person of interest in the homicide.
“Construction workers noticed a car that wasn’t parked completely in the stall, which brought some attention to it, and they found a deceased person inside the car,” Shosted said.
Police were called and, working in conjunction with the Medical Examiner’s Office and investigators, they determined the death appeared to be a homicide caused by gunshot injuries.
Shosted said the next step is for workers from the medical examiner’s office to conduct an autopsy.
“We’re still chasing down leads,” Shosted said. “It does appear the crime occurred outside of our city, but ended up with the victim being inside the city when it was over.”
He said it is unknown why that parking lot was chosen, as the incident does not appear to be tied to the credit union.
The credit union has assisted with the investigation by getting security video and surveillance camera pictures.
Anyone who has any information is asked to call the CHPD at 801-840-4000.
