Teen boy accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend charged with murder as an adult

A 17-year-old boy who is accused of shooting and killing his 16-year-old girlfriend and then leaving her body along a dirt road was charged with murder as an adult on Friday, court documents show.

Piute County Attorney Scott Burns also charged Francisco Daniel Aguilar in 6th District Court with one count of attempted aggravated murder, one count of felony discharge of a firearm, and two counts of aggravated assault in connection with the killing.

On Jan. 8, just before 10 p.m., the Piute County Sheriff’s Office responded to a shots fired call on Doc Springs Road, just north of Circleville in Piute County, according to a release from the sheriff’s office. Just after 10 p.m., deputies found a 16-year-old girl who had been fatally shot near a dirt road.

The Piute County Sheriff’s Office put out a call to locate a blue Ford Ranger, and at about 11:03 p.m., a Sevier County Sheriff’s deputy located the suspect vehicle traveling east near Glenwood, the release states.

As deputies attempted to stop the vehicle, the driver fled, leading officers in a chase that ended near Salina. The driver, Aguilar, was arrested and charged in 6th District Juvenile Court with aggravated murder.

In the probable cause statement, it says that the victim, 16-year-old Jacqueline Nunez, tried to flee from Aguilar’s car and get to a car that was driven by a female friend. As Nunez did so, Aguilar shot her in the leg, shattering her femur, according to the statement.

Aguilar also reportedly continued to fire at the friend’s vehicle, and the friend finally had to drive away.

Afterward, Aguilar walked to where Nunez was lying on the road and shot her in the head, killing her, the document states. Then he fled the scene but was later caught by deputies.

Once at the Sevier County jail, with his father present, Aguilar gave a confession that supports that accounting of events in the probable cause statement, documents say.

Piute High School described Nunez in a social media post as “an excellent athlete, who lost her life.”

“Our county is devastated,” said Piute County Sheriff Marty Gleave in the probable cause statement. “We are a small county, and everyone knows this victim and her family.”

“Murders don’t happen where we live,” he added, so everyone from Piute High School “is in shock and reeling from this tragedy.”

from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/QMEm57e