A West Jordan boy who was shot to death Monday may have been involved in a shootout with the 19-year-old suspected of killing him, according to police.
The boy’s mother called police early Monday to report the shooting. When officers arrived at a home near 3500 West and 8200 South, they found Jacob Jeremy Hansen, 17, lying on the ground. According to a probable cause statement, he appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound. Hansen was taken to Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, where he died a short time later.
Inside the doorway of the home, according to police, officers found a handgun, three spent shell casings on the floor and blood smeared on the wall. Outside, officers saw three more spent shell casings and a spent slug.
When questioned by police, the 19-year-old suspect “admitted that he was involved in the shooting that killed the victim,” according to the probable cause statement. He said he went to the victim’s home carrying a gun and “looking for work” — which police considered a reference to buying drugs, the document states.
The suspect told police that when the boy answered the door, he told the suspect to leave. The 19-year-old said he then “blocked the door with his arm,” which prompted the boy to open fire at him. The 19-year-old then fired back, he told investigators.
The suspect was not wounded.
After obtaining a search warrant, detectives found multiple guns, spent shell casings, cellphones, drugs and drug paraphernalia inside the boy’s home, according to the probable cause statement.
Witnesses told police the suspect was at a church before the killing, and that he showed people a gun and said he was going to look for and rob the the boy killed, the document states.
Police arrested the suspect as he was leaving his girlfriend’s home in a Lyft. The girlfriend told police that the suspect had called her on FaceTime and “was crying and talked about how his life was over,” the document states. She said that when she went to meet him, he told her he “killed someone.” He then “forced her to erase all of their text messages and communication on her phone” related to the shooting.
The 19-year-old suspect was booked into the Salt Lake County jail, where he is being held without bail. As of Wednesday, he had not been charged. Police continue to search for additional suspects.
The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not name suspects until they have been charged with a crime.
