'Pop, pop, pop': 71-year-old taking out the trash gunned down as the killer 'just decided they were going to shoot the first person they saw,' wife and cops say

A antheral was taking retired the trash extracurricular his Utah location erstwhile idiosyncratic passing by shot and killed him, authorities successful the Beehive State said.

The Davis County Sheriff's Office arrested a antheral for the murder of James Randell Witten, 71, past month, officials announced during a property league streamed by country Fox affiliate KSTU. The section outlet identified the fishy arsenic 23-year-old Axel Eduardo Chavez.

In summation to facing a execution charge, Chavez has been charged with felony discharge of a firearm, obstruction of justice, and prohibited unsafe limb conduct.

On May 30, Witten went to instrumentality the trash retired astatine his spot disconnected 2000 West successful West Point, Utah. The metropolis is located astir 30 miles northbound of Salt Lake City.

It was the evening, but the prima was inactive out, witnesses recounted. Then, neighbors heard gunshots.

"We heard the 'pop, pop, pop,' you know, and we went to the model and past the cops, you know, had blocked disconnected the area," neighbour Sara Herzog said.

More from Law&Crime: 'I volition termination you': Woman seeing her Lincoln being towed distant shoots operator aft trying to hop successful and thrust off, cops say

Witten's woman said she believed the shooting was "totally random."

"They killed an aged antheral who was doing nary harm," Maria Witten told KSTU. "I deliberation that they conscionable decided erstwhile they were driving down that they were gonna sprout the archetypal idiosyncratic they saw successful a yard."

The sheriff's bureau said it spent weeks investigating the crime, and it gave nary indications that the fishy and unfortunate knew each other. Investigators searched for a maroon Honda Civic that was seen leaving the area, noting that they had immoderate signs "early on" that the fishy was "probably idiosyncratic from retired of state."

The section instrumentality enforcement bureau added that they worked with authorities successful Las Vegas to place Chavez arsenic their suspect. He was arrested determination connected June 16 and has since been extradited to Utah.

Authorities reportedly judge the suspect is from El Salvador and was surviving successful Los Angeles, making the Las Vegas transportation unclear.

James Witten was a 20-year Air Force seasoned who served successful Vietnam, his obituary states. "His hobbies included hiking, biking, camping, serving his community, penning abbreviated stories and exploring the countryside successful his RV," and helium "especially enjoyed camping and exploring with a radical of neighbors, who challenged him to caller adventures."