SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 4, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Police have arrested an alleged gunman wanted in an Aug. 10 shooting in downtown Salt Lake Lake City’s crowded bar district.
Court documents indicate Jowil Charles, 31, has been charged with 10 counts of “felony discharge of a firearm,” as well as a misdemeanor drug charge.
Two people were wounded in the Exchange Place area shooting, one of whom remains in critical condition nearly four weeks later, according to a police affidavit contained in a probable cause statement filed in Third District Court.
The shooting was first reported around midnight that Saturday when patrol officers in the vicinity of 380 State St. reported hearing multiple gunshots, the probable cause statement said.
Responding police officers “flooded the area” and followed a blood trail from the scene of the shooting to a parking garage located at near 60 Exchange Place. There they found a male shooting victim with approximately nine gunshot wounds lying next to a silver Lexus SUV, which also had blood in the interior, the police affidavit said.
A second victim was also found. The PC statement said that victim was shot in the leg, which investigators believe was the result of “crossfire.”
“Detectives conducted a records check and found the vehicle was associated” with an alleged suspect identified earlier in eyewitness accounts provided to police. The probable cause statement said detectives then matched “known photos” of the suspect with surveillance footage and determined he was an “exact match” with the male described as the shooter.
Tuesday night, the suspect was seen driving a “vehicle and a tail was conducted” until he was taken into custody, the probable cause statement said. “During the service of a search warrant” police say they found multiple THC cartridges inside the vehicle.
Jowil is the fourth suspect arrested in the case, which police say is gang-related.
Gephardt Daily will update this story as more information becomes available.