On a late Wednesday afternoon in the Salt Lake City area, 33-year-old Hispanic male Ever Hernandez was fatally wounded in a violent encounter. On October 25, 2017, while sitting in his car in the parking lot of a Check City in Murray, an individual approached his vehicle. The man opened the front passenger door, leaned inside, and shot Hernandez.
Following the shooting, Hernandez's car accelerated out of the parking lot and onto State Street.
The vehicle traveled across the lanes of traffic before T-boning one car and striking a third. When police arrived at the scene of the crash, they discovered Hernandez deceased inside his vehicle from a gunshot wound to the head.
Investigators utilized surveillance footage from businesses in the vicinity to track the suspect's movements after the shooting. The video evidence showed the assailant dumping articles of clothing at a nearby Deseret Industries before boarding a TRAX train. A Utah Transit Authority police officer recognized the man in the surveillance images, leading to his identification.
The suspect was identified as 19-year-old Lucas Marc Deprey, who was described as homeless. A warrant was issued for his arrest on charges including murder, possession of a weapon by a restricted person, and obstructing justice. Deprey was apprehended in Springfield, Oregon, and awaited extradition back to Utah to face the charges. While the motive for the shooting was not immediately clear, charging documents noted an incoming text message on Deprey's phone at the time of his arrest that read, "At what point did you shoot him?"
