A man who allegedly acted as a getaway driver after a February shooting in West Valley City was charged Thursday with obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.
The man, Edgar Aguilar, apparently confessed to driving Ian Reddick on Feb. 5, the day Reddick is alleged to have killed 20-year-old Manuel Andres Martinez during a drug deal gone wrong.
The charges, according to documents filed Thursday in 3rd District Court, came after police went to Aguilar’s house to investigate a drive-by shooting and he told them it could be in retaliation for his role in Martinez’s homicide.
West Valley police were called to the 6400 block of Wakefield Way on Feb. 5 on reports of a man, later identified as Martinez, lying in the street with gunshot wounds. He was declared dead at the scene.
Reddick was arrested in Texas after someone who was with Martinez that night came forward to police, according to charging documents.
After his arrest, Reddick told police that Martinez attacked him when Martinez got into Aguilar’s car to buy the drugs. Reddick said Martinez tried to grab a pistol in the car and that Reddick shot Martinez once he wrestled the gun away. Reddick pulled the body out of the car, documents allege, and Aguilar drove away.
On July 6, officers from the Unified Police Department were called to a residence in Kearns on a report about shots being fired. When an officer knocked on the door of the residence, Aguilar answered. He told police he had frequently seen a black BMW driving by his house. He told police he had been driving when his friend Reddick killed a person during a drug deal and believed the gunshots might be the victim’s friends retaliating against him, according to the charging document.
Salt Lake County prosecutors said Aguilar was charged with obstruction of justice because he had told Reddick that they needed to leave the scene after the shooting. Reddick has been charged with murder, aggravated robbery and obstructing justice.
