On the evening of December 27, 2022, 20-year-old Xavier Jose Bernal of Ogden drove to the Redwood apartments in West Valley City with two companions to meet someone for a transaction of unknown nature. Bernal left the vehicle and later returned having sustained a gunshot wound; he collapsed in the car and died after being driven to a local hospital. No one at the apartment complex reported hearing shots.

West Valley City detectives processed the parking lot and say digital evidence pointed to a person of interest. Police arrested 21-year-old Dylan Gregorio Upshaw in Salt Lake City a week later on suspicion of aggravated murder and obstruction of justice. A witness recording provided to investigators reportedly captured an altercation during the transaction that resulted in the shooting.

The Salt Lake County District Attorney declined to file charges, saying Upshaw asserted self-defense and that evidence suggested Bernal may have been attempting to rob Upshaw and had brought the gun to the scene; prosecutors referenced Utah’s self-defense law. Bernal’s family remembered him as a beloved son, grandson, brother, and friend; they held funeral services and fundraisers to bring his mother from Mexico.

If anyone has information about what happened at the Redwood apartments that night, please share it.