20-year-old West Jordan woman shot dead as children sleep
Boyfriend is arrested but hasn't been charged in the death
West Jordan Police Capt. Gary Cox said Friday that investigators are still trying determine a motive or whether the shooting was accidental.
About 1 a.m., police responded to a domestic violence call at the Geneva Village Apartments, 1375 W. 7000 South. When they arrived, they found Kari Lynn San Miguel had been shot once in the upper torso.
San Miguel was flown by medical helicopter to LDS Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Investigators later arrested Jose Luis Topete and booked him into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of manslaughter, possession of a firearm by a restricted person and possession of a stolen firearm, all second-degree felonies.
Topete also had a gunshot wound to his hand, apparently from the same bullet that struck San Miguel, Cox said. The bullet went through Topete's palm. He was treated at a local hospital before being released to police and booked into jail. Topete admitted to firing the weapon that struck San Miguel, he said. Police were still trying to determine Friday how Topete also shot himself during the incident.
Three to five adults were in the apartment when the shooting occurred. San Miguel's two children were asleep upstairs.
Paula Curtis was one of the first neighbors to run to San Miguel's apartment. Curtis, who lives in the apartment next door, said she was awaked by screams and the sounds of frightened people.
"When I came outside this girl asked me if I knew CPR," she said. "Then she handed me the phone and asked me to talk (to 911) because she couldn't do it."
Curtis said when she entered the apartment she saw San Miguel lying on the floor between the kitchen and the living room.
"There was bloodstains all over the floor," she said.
Curtis said a man whom she described as the victim's boyfriend was in a "distraught mode" and was trying to shake San Miguel to get her to wake up. The boyfriend then said, "he was going to find out what happened," according to Curtis.
"I'm so sick by it," she said of the incident. "I have been through hell tonight. It just frightens me to death to know it happened so close to my kids."
Neighbor Ben Atwood said he got home about 11:30 p.m. Thursday from a Thanksgiving dinner and was awake when the shooting happened.
Atwood said San Miguel's children, aged 3 and 4, slept through the entire incident. He said they were still sleeping when other relatives carried them out of the house so they could stay with their grandmother.
You can be the first to comment on this story.