WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — An 18-year-old who made arrangements online to meet a woman was instead robbed by the woman and a male suspect in West Valley City Saturday, and during the robbery a gun was discharged and the round grazed the victim.
Lt. Dalan Taylor of the West Valley City Police Department said they responded to a report of a shot fired around 5:15 p.m. after an 18-year-old male had arranged to meet a woman at an apartment near 3200 West and 3600 South.
“When he showed up, the female was with another male,” Taylor said. “They both get into his vehicle. They pull a gun on him and rob him of some personal property.During the course of the robbery there was a struggle inside the vehicle and a shot was fired.”
Taylor said the victim was taken to a hospital with a minor injury.
“The round actually just grazed him,” he said.
After the shot was fired, the suspect and female fled into a neighborhood. Police were able to follow footprints in a snowy field to an abandoned house, but ultimately they discovered the suspects had fled from that location.
Police said they are following up on some leads in the hopes of finding the pair. They said they don’t believe they pose a threat to the public.
“As far as we know, this was something that was set up,” Taylor said. “They’re not out doing this randomly, this was an arrangement that they made, so at this point I would say no [there is no threat to the general public].”
Taylor said the case is a reminder for people to be careful when making arrangements online.
“As always, over the Internet you never really know who you’re dealing with, so, yeah, you should always be very cautious about where you meet these individuals and try and do it in a public place,” he said.
