SALT LAKE CITY — A man convicted for his involvement in a shooting related to a drug trafficking incident has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and five years of supervised release.
Rafael Antonio Torres, 21, was involved in a shooting in January 2023 where two people were shot and killed. The sentence represents the mandatory minimum sentence allowed by law.
According to court documents, Torres admitted to discharging a firearm during a drug deal. On January 31, 2023, Torres and his cousin, Eduardo Moreno-Lujan, met in the parking lot of a Taylorsville apartment complex with a potential customer to sell THC vape cartridges.
Just before midnight, Taylorsville police responded to multiple "shots fired" calls. Investigators say they found the two deceased men in a vehicle that had crashed into a snowbank. Witnesses reported to police that a third person, later identified as Torres, fled from the rear passenger seat of the vehicle.
Taylorsville Police recovered THC cartridges and two firearms from the crashed vehicle. Each of the deceased had a firearm on their person. Forensic tests later determined that the two men had shot and killed each other. Further testing confirmed that a third gun had been fired inside the vehicle. The third firearm was later recovered by police after a citizen located it under heavy brush.
Attorneys for Torres later contacted police and gave them a written statement of Torres' account of what happened. Arrest documents state that the buyer said he needed to get more money and "pretended to open the door of the car, but pulled out a gun and shot [Lujan]." Torres claimed that he had shot the passenger from the backseat as he exited the vehicle.
“We appreciate the work of the U.S. Attorney's Office in prosecuting this case, thereby giving some sense of justice to the victims’ families and the community,” said Detective Kevin Barrett of the Taylorsville City Police Department. “As law enforcement partners, the Taylorsville City Police Department and U.S. Attorney's Office will continue to stand together fighting neighborhood drug crimes, especially when they involve violence.”
