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Published on August 13, 2024
Two Salt Lake City Shooting Suspects, Including a Teen, Detained in Death of Naod Welday at Mount Olympus TrailheadSource: SereiCare

Two individuals, a 20-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy, implicated in the shooting death of an 18-year-old man identified as Naod Welday, have been detained by law enforcement, KSL reports. The incident occurred at the Mount Olympus trailhead parking lot where Welday's body, bearing multiple gunshot wounds, was discovered in the early hours of August 3rd.

Mateo Heriberto Martinez, the adult suspect, now faces multiple charges, including murder and aggravated assault, and he was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail earlier this week, Martinez and the juvenile were implicated through evidence left at the scene and electronic data despite an apparent attempt to obscure their involvement after being into an altercation that escalated into violence, his and his friends locking themselves in the vehicle to escape harm only for it ending in gunfire and the tragic loss of Welday's life, according to ABC4 News.

Authorities, including the Metro Gang Unit, have stressed that Welday and the other victims were not suspected of any gang-related activities, clarifying that the young man's death is nevertheless linked to gang violence, this clarification comes amid committed efforts by local law enforcement to mitigate such violence and emphasis on community safety, as detailed in ABC4 News.

In their investigation, detectives were able to connect Martinez to the crime through a significant piece of evidence, a baseball hat discovered near the scene and seen worn by him in a video five days prior to the killing with the 911 call recording from Welday adding chilling audio to the painful narrative and police later heard the jarring noise of gunfire; Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera commented on the arrest, commending the work of the deputies and detectives saying, "This tragic event serves as a stark reminder of the devastating impact of gang violence," as detailed by FOX13.