SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, May 12, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A Texas man faces 25 felony charges after police say he fired 23 rounds from an assault rifle — injuring two people — during a dispute over missing money at a soccer game at a Salt Lake City park.
Steven Mathew Macias, 32, was charged Thursday in 3rd District Court in connection with the May 1 shooting at 17th South River Park, 1150 W. 1700 South, that critically injured a 21-year-old man and left a 65-year-old man in serious condition.
Macias is being held without bail in the Salt Lake County jail on 25 felony charges:
- Two counts of felony discharge of a firearm, a first-degree felony
- Two counts of obstructing justice, a second-degree felony
- 20 counts of felony discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony
- Aggravated assault, a third-degree felony
About 30 people — including children — were at the park either playing or watching an evening soccer game at the time of the shooting, Salt Lake City police said.
Officers arrived to find the 21-year-old man on the soccer field with a gunshot wound in the left side of his chest, police said. Police and fire officials began life-saving efforts on the man, who later was transported to an area hospital in critical condition.
Officers later found a second gunshot victim, a 65-year-old man, across the street in a field south of the shooting, according to police. The man was taken to an area hospital in serious condition with a gunshot wound in the upper part of his chest and injuries to his left ear, police said.
Police said Macias is from Texas and was visiting Utah at the time of the shooting. He had been riding a bike at the park and later started drinking beer with a man who coached a children’s soccer team, according to charging documents.
Macias and the soccer coach later were joined by the 65-year-old man, who arrived in a white pickup truck, and they continued drinking beer together, charges state.
“Macias admitted that he consumed multiple beers to the point he was intoxicated,” according to an affidavit from Salt Lake City police.
After the soccer coach left, Macias and the 65-year-old man walked to a nearby store to purchase more beer, then returned to the park and continued drinking, charges state.
Macias then became upset about some missing money, walked to his vehicle to retrieve an assault rife and “started shooting at the older Hispanic male while he was sitting in his truck,” charging documents state.
Macias “then turned and started shooting into the crowd behind him,” charges state.
Macias then fled the park in his vehicle and threw the assault rifle “somewhere by the shoreline of a lake about 20 feet from the freeway,” according to charging documents.
Macias called police on May 2, saying “he needed law enforcement to know where he was,” charging documents state.
Law enforcement officials pinged Macias’ phone and later arrested him near Eureka in Juab County, charges state. Macias also buried his cellphone and iPad in the area after calling police, according to the charges.
Police say Macias also is a person of interest in the January 2023 murder of one of his neighbors in Texas. Following his arrest May 2, Macias admitted to officers that he shot and killed the neighbor “because his neighbor had upset him,” charges state.
