WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, Dec. 9, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — Police in West Valley City said Monday a man found dead inside his pickup truck early Saturday morning was shot.
Jesus Vasquez, 31, was found unresponsive just before 6 a.m. by a woman passerby in the back parking lot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Granger 15th Ward meeting house at 2835 S. 2855 West.
First responders from nearby West Valley City Fire Department Station 73 arrived on scene within minutes and found that Vasquez was dead. They also said he appeared to have been beaten or dragged.
On Sunday morning, West Valley City PD released a statement confirming their suspicions that Vasquez had “suffered multiple injuries consistent with homicidal violence.” On Monday afternoon, West Valley City police spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku told Gephardt Daily detectives believe Vasquez was shot at a different location, put into his truck and driven to the church parking lot. It’s not clear at this early stage where he was shot. Detectives are working to establish a motive for the shooting.
Police also released a photo of Vasquez’s maroon Nissan Frontier 4-door pickup truck. They believe the vehicle was driven by a possible suspect.
Anyone who has information about the crime or saw someone driving the victim’s pickup truck, is asked to call West Valley City Police at 801-840-4000.
