insult from a rival gang member was all it took for Riqo Mariano Perea to pull a gun and fire into a crowd gathered for a post-wedding party

insult from a rival gang member was all it took for Riqo Mariano Perea to pull a gun and fire into a crowd gathered for a post-wedding party three years ago, killing two people and wounding two others, a prosecutor told a 2nd District Court jury Tuesday.
"In the gang world, it's all about respect, and it's all about retaliation," Gary Heward said during closing arguments. "Riqo Perea was going to show he was the biggest and baddest." Defense attorney Randall Richards countered that Perea was ordered by an older gang member to "take the rap" for the Aug. 5, 2007, shootings and Riqo confessed to protect his family. Richards claimed "two, three or maybe four guns were used" during the attack, and none of them was fired by his client. Heward countered there was no evidence Perea was taking the fall for someone else. The jury, after 2½ hours of deliberation, agreed with prosecutors that Perea pulled the trigger. The 22-year-old was convicted of two counts of aggravated murder for killing Sabrina Prieto, 22, and Rosendo Nevarez, 29. He also was convicted of two counts of first-degree felony attempted murder for wounding Richard Lee Esquivel, 26, and Keri Garcia, 24. Perea is set for sentencing May 27 by Judge Ernie Jones, who could sentence him to life with or without the possibility of parole on the aggravated murder counts. Prior to the shooting, witnesses testified they heard an argument on the street outside an Ogden home in the 1700 East block of 1050 North, where about 40 people had gathered. The shouting included the names of two rival gangs, "Ogden Trece" and "Norte," followed by one or two shots fired into the air. Moments later, according to four people at the party, a red SUV coasted down the street as someone leaned out the front passenger-side window and fired over the roof of the vehicle. Three of the witnesses did not recognize the shooter, but the fourth, Sarah Valencia, testified it was Perea, whom she had known for about eight years. The SUV's driver and two passengers testified Perea was riding in the front passenger seat. One passenger testified he saw Perea shooting and that afterward the slide on the semi-automatic pistol was locked back, indicating the magazine was empty. The other passenger testified he never saw the gun, but did see the muzzle flash as it was fired.

The driver of the SUV, Dominique Duran, said she saw Perea hanging out of the vehicle and heard shots fired, but she claimed she did not know who the shooter was.
The killings spurred what police believe was a series of retaliatory shootings. In one case, a man was shot seven times and dumped in an Ogden industrial area, but survived. Heward said it was no coincidence that Perea's confession lined up with witness testimony and fits the physical evidence. A key witness for the defense was James Gaskill, a Weber State University professor and forensic scientist who once headed the State Crime Lab. Gaskill claimed that shots fired from the moving SUV would have left empty shells strewn along the roadway. Instead, police found 10 shell casings from a .22-caliber pistol grouped near the driveway of a neighboring home. Gaskill said the grouping indicates there was "an almost stationary" shooter near where the shells ended up. Gaskill also claimed there must have been a second shooter in the backyard of the party house, a third shooter in front of the home and possibly a fourth shooter hiding inside a Chevrolet parked in the driveway of the home. He based his opinion on the wound trajectories of the victims, a parked pickup truck that would have blocked bullets fired from the SUV and a shot-out window in the parked Chevrolet. Gaskill said a shooter in the backyard explained why Prieto was shot in the chest while running from the front of the house. But Heward said the woman could have been hit before she turned to run. Heward also noted that none of the witnesses saw or heard anyone shooting from the back of the home. Prosecutor Christopher Shaw called Gaskill's testimony "illogical" and "unreliable," and said it was not based on facts in evidence.

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