Background: The crime scene in West Point, Utah (KSTU/YouTube). Inset: James Witten (Russon Mortuary & Crematory).
A man was taking out the trash outside his Utah home when someone passing by shot and killed him, authorities in the Beehive State said.
The Davis County Sheriff”s Office arrested a man for the murder of James Randell Witten, 71, last month, officials announced during a press conference streamed by area Fox affiliate KSTU. The local outlet identified the suspect as 23-year-old Axel Eduardo Chavez.
In addition to facing a murder charge, Chavez has been charged with felony discharge of a firearm, obstruction of justice, and prohibited dangerous weapon conduct.
On May 30, Witten went to take the trash out at his property off 2000 West in West Point, Utah. The city is located about 30 miles north of Salt Lake City.
It was the evening, but the sun was still out, witnesses recounted. Then, neighbors heard gunshots.
“We heard the ‘pop, pop, pop,’ you know, and we went to the window and then the cops, you know, had blocked off the area,” neighbor Sara Herzog said.
Witten’s wife said she believed the shooting was “totally random.”
“They killed an old man who was doing no harm,” Maria Witten told KSTU. “I think that they just decided when they were driving down that they were gonna shoot the first person they saw in a yard.”
The sheriff’s office said it spent weeks investigating the crime, and it gave no indications that the suspect and victim knew each other. Investigators searched for a maroon Honda Civic that was seen leaving the area, noting that they had some signs “early on” that the suspect was “probably someone from out of state.”
The local law enforcement agency added that they worked with authorities in Las Vegas to identify Chavez as their suspect. He was arrested there on June 16 and has since been extradited to Utah.
Authorities reportedly believe the defendant is from El Salvador and was living in Los Angeles, making the Las Vegas connection unclear.
James Witten was a 20-year Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam, his obituary states. “His hobbies included hiking, biking, camping, serving his community, writing short stories and exploring the countryside in his RV,” and he “especially enjoyed camping and exploring with a group of neighbors, who challenged him to new adventures.”
