2 adults, teen boy charged in fatal Taylorsville shootout

29 Jun 2026, 23:30 by Pat Reavy ksl · KSL.com

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Alejandro Bia, 23, and Christopher Lopez, 17, face murder charges in Taylorsville.
The shooting resulted in the death of Isaiah Chavez.
Prosecutors seek no bail, fearing retaliation against witnesses who belong to a rival gang.

TAYLORSVILLE — Two men and a 17-year-old boy have been charged in connection with a fatal shooting at a Taylorsville gas station.

Alejandro Julian Bia, 23, of Salt Lake City, and Christopher Lopez, 17, of Sandy, were each charged Monday in 3rd District Court with murder and discharge of a firearm causing serious injury, first-degree felonies; and 14 counts of discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony.

Lopez was also charged with obstruction of justice and being a restricted person in possession of a gun, second-degree felonies, as was Daniel Vargas Rodriguez, 19, of Taylorsville.

Taylorsville police were called to the Speedway Gas Station at 3587 W. 4700 South at about 3 a.m. on June 20. Two vehicles carrying approximately nine people stopped at the gas station as they waited for information on a house party, according to a police booking affidavit.

While they were in the parking lot, another car with Bia, Lopez and Rodriguez pulled up. Investigators later watched on surveillance video as the three approached Isaiah Chavez.

"There appears to be a non-confrontational exchange of words before Bia and Lopez are seen walking back to the silver Infiniti. Bia is seen entering the driver's seat and Lopez entering the front passenger seat. (Chavez) is seen turning the corner of the building towards Bia's vehicle, when Bia fires a gun in (Chavez's) direction. The shot misses (Chavez), who is observed drawing a firearm from his right side pant pocket area and firing two rounds back at Bia," according to charging documents.

Investigators say six shots came from Bia's vehicle as it drove away. But after going a short distance, the car turned around and returned, the charges state.

"Approximately six shots are heard with muzzle flashes seen on the video…with those six shots coming from the passenger side of the Infiniti. Then, another five shots are heard from the same video, also coming from the Infiniti. (Chavez) is observed on video running towards the white Acura, where he is struck by gunfire and falls, succumbing to what was later determined to be a single gunshot wound to his right side. Eleven 9mm casings were found in this area. The investigation determined that at least 18 shots were fired from the Infiniti," according to charging documents.

After leaving the gas station for a second time, Bia "drives down the street, slows down and yells at (Rodriguez) to jump in the car before fleeing the scene. Upon apprehension (Bia) at first told detectives he did not fire a weapon and refused to tell officers the names of the occupants of his vehicle. After being informed that he was seen on security footage firing from his vehicle, (he) admitted that he had fired once, but (Lopez) had fired the other shots," charging documents state.

"Detectives found that those shots not only struck and killed (Chavez) but struck a nearby residence, going through the stucco and entering a child's room where the bullet lodged in the wall," the documents continue. "Casings and bullets were not only located on the roadway and in (Chavez's) vehicle, but shattered the door at the Speedway gas station, and went through a window of a nearby business which was closed for the evening."

Using license plate reader data and cellphone data, detectives tracked Bia to a home in Taylorsville and Rodriguez and Lopez to another residence there.

Prosecutors have requested that all three be held without the possibility of posting bail pending trial because they are afraid of retaliation against witnesses "who are members of a rival gang," the charges state.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

2 adults, teen boy charged in fatal Taylorsville shootout

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