Two men are facing multiple charges after a shootout in the parking garage of an Orem apartment complex that's home to many Utah Valley University students — an exchange of gunfire that endangered a 2-year-old child, among others.
According to Orem police, the incident began about 4 p.m. on Aug. 29 when Cameron William Todhunter, 18, of Spanish Fork, “orchestrated a scheme to rob a fellow drug dealer” at the Promenade Place Apartments at 867 S. Geneva Road. Todhunter — who had “robbed the same drug dealer before” — used his girlfriend's Snapchat account to “lure” the drug dealer to the parking garage and had her drive an SUV to meet him.
(Photo courtesy Utah County jail) Nicholas James Jordan
Not wanting to be recognized, Todhunter got out of the SUV before it entered the parking garage; instructed his girlfriend and a male passenger “where to go and how to pull off the robbery”; and gave the male passenger a gun.
According to probable cause statements, the girlfriend's 2-year-old child was in the backseat of the car, and Todhunter knew it.
Police said that surveillance video from the parking garage showed the SUV approach a group of about six people. When the girlfriend and the male passenger met the drug dealer and his “posse … things went predictably south in a hurry,” according to police. One member of the drug dealer's posse, Nicholas James Jordan, 23, of Orem, brandished a gun; the male passenger fired “at least three gunshots” at the rival group from the window of the SUV; and Jordan fired once “in an attempt to kill the other shooter.”
No one was struck by any of the bullets.
According to police, property managers at the apartment complex recognized at least two of those involved in the incident as “current tenants of their complex” from the surveillance video. Police also said they discovered that Jordan had “ditched” his gun and a bag with more than 100 marijuana dab cartridges in an apartment near his.
Todhunter was charged with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony; possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a second-degree felony; rioting, a third-degree felony; and reckless endangerment, a class A misdemeanor.
Jordan was charged with attempted murder and aggravated robbery, first-degree felonies; possession of a firearm by a restricted person and obstructing justice, second-degree felonies; drug possession with intent to distribute and rioting, third-degree felonies; and reckless endangerment, a class A misdemeanor.
Both men, who were on probation for unrelated crimes, are being held without bail in the Utah County jail.
As of Wednesday, no one else has been charged in the incident. Police have not identified the girlfriend or the male passenger who reportedly fired shots from the SUV.
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