WEST VALLEY CITY, UT — A West Valley City father died after police say he was shot during an attempted robbery while his two young children were in the back seat of his car. Investigators identified the victim as 24-year-old Abraham Martinez, who was taken to St. Marks Hospital with a gunshot wound to the head after the Saturday shooting.
West Valley police said Martinez later died from his injuries the following evening. On Tuesday, a SWAT team arrested 26-year-old Ryley Gilberto Avila of Taylorsville as a suspect in the case. He was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on charges including aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and firing a weapon, according to police.
Police say the shooting followed a meeting in a parking lot
Investigators said Martinez had arranged to meet a group of people in a parking lot near 3100 South 5600 West. Avila was among the people involved in that encounter, police said.
According to arrest documents, Avila allegedly planned to rob Martinez during the meet-up. Police said an argument broke out between the two groups and then escalated into gunfire. Investigators allege Avila fired three shots toward Martinez during the confrontation.
The location was a public parking lot, and the confrontation unfolded quickly, leaving police to piece together the sequence of events from witness statements and arrest paperwork.
Martinez was hit in the head while seated with his children
Police said Martinez was sitting in the back seat of his own car beside his two underage children when he was struck once in the head. Investigators said two additional bullets went into the vehicle, but no other injuries were reported.
The shooting left the children physically unharmed, according to police, though they were present for the violence. The case has drawn attention because of the children’s proximity to the shooting and the fact that it happened during what investigators describe as a robbery attempt.
Authorities have not said publicly what led Martinez to meet the group or what the relationship was between the people involved before the encounter.
Doctors could not save him after the emergency transfer
After the shooting, one of Avila’s companions rushed Martinez to an emergency center across the street, West Valley police said. From there, he was taken to St. Marks Hospital for further treatment.
Police said Martinez died the next evening from the gunshot wound. The brief chain of events underscores how quickly the encounter turned fatal, with the victim moved first to a nearby medical facility and then to a hospital, but unable to recover from the injury.
No other injuries were reported during the incident, according to police.
Suspect allegedly fled and threatened witnesses, police say
West Valley police said Avila fled after the shooting and hid from officers. Investigators also said he allegedly told witnesses that if they spoke to police, he would kill them too.
Those alleged threats are part of the case investigators say helped them identify him as a suspect. Avila was arrested Tuesday by a SWAT team and later booked into jail on one count of first-degree felony aggravated murder, one count of first-degree felony aggravated robbery and two counts of third-degree felony discharge of a firearm.
Police have not said whether anyone else faces charges in connection with the shooting.
West Valley investigators continue to build the case around the attempted robbery
The arrest marks a major development in a case that began with what police describe as a robbery attempt and ended with a young father dead in front of his children. West Valley investigators have said the meeting in the parking lot turned into a deadly argument, then a shooting.
The criminal allegations against Avila remain accusations unless proven in court. Still, the charges filed against him reflect the seriousness of the case and the combination of violence, robbery allegations and witness intimidation described by police.
Martinez’s death adds another homicide case to the city’s public safety concerns, while investigators continue to rely on witness accounts and arrest records to reconstruct exactly what happened that night.
