OGDEN, Utah, April 1, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — Police have arrested a suspect in the shooting of a man in a mobile home park in Ogden late Sunday night.
Orlando Carranza-Cendejas, 23, is facing charges of:
- Two counts of murder, first-degree felonies (Note: attempted homicide falls under the same statute as homicide, according to the charging document)
- Possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, a third-degree felony
- Use or possession of drug paraphernalia, a class A misdemeanor
- Purchase, transport, possession, use of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony
- Obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony
Officers were dispatched at 12:20 a.m. Monday to the area of 200 N. Harrisville Rd.
According to a probable cause statement filed in 2nd District Court in Ogden, investigators learned on March 29 that Orlando Carranza-Cendejas went to the victim’s address. The victim’s girlfriend, referred to in the document as AR, answered the door as the victim, referred to as ER, walked to the door.
“Carranza-Cendejas pulled a firearm and shot victim ER in the chest. Carranza-Cendejas fired another round toward victim AR, which did not strike her, and Carranza-Cendejas fled the residence,” the charging document states.
Detectives from the Ogden Major Crimes division interviewed AR. She told the detectives there was a disagreement over narcotics between Carranza-Cendejas and her boyfriend, ER.
Carranza-Cendejas was found driving back to his residence and was detained by police.
The officer who interviewed the suspect said that Carranza-Cendejas, under Miranda, admitted to shooting ER.
Carranza-Cendejas said he wasn’t trying to shoot the woman, AR, and said ER previously had threatened him.
The officer also interviewed the suspect’s cousin, a minor, who was present at the scene and who said Carranza-Cendejas shot ER.
The victim, ER, was in the hospital in critical condition but is expected to survive.
When Carranza-Cendejas was stopped in the vehicle, a methamphetamine pipe was seen in plain view, and his cousin, who is a minor, was in the vehicle, making it a drug-free zone, the statement says.
A police K-9 indicated the odor of narcotics coming from the vehicle, so a search was ultimately conducted and a bag containing multiple baggies of a crystal-like substance was found. The reporting officer states that he viewed the baggies and they appeared to be for distribution purposes.
According to the document, Carranza-Cendejas admitted to recently using methamphetamine and marijuana.
Carranza-Cendejas was booked into Weber County Jail, where he is being held without bail.
