A Halloween party in a Salt Lake City warehouse near 500 West and 600 South turned fatal in the early morning hours of October 24, 2021. Twenty-one-year-old Isaiah Valerio was at the gathering when an argument among several attendees escalated. Family members say Valerio tried to de-escalate a fight that was not his own; witnesses reported he was struck in the head and then was shot in the head at close range. Salt Lake City police received calls about the shooting at approximately 1:23 a.m.; officers and paramedics found Valerio in critical condition and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators focused on 20-year-old Roy Anthony Duran; witnesses said Duran had been involved in multiple altercations that night and, after a verbal dispute, punched Valerio before someone intervened and Duran allegedly produced a firearm and shot him. Duran turned himself in to the Clearfield Police Department on October 25, 2021, was questioned by Salt Lake City homicide detectives, and was booked into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail on charges including murder, obstruction of justice, and being a restricted person in possession of a firearm.

Valerio’s family described him as a happy person who was always there for others. Does anyone who attended that party or knew Isaiah have information that could help clarify what happened that night?