SALT LAKE CITY – A man was arrested after police fatally beat another person in a homeless camp earlier this month, according to a police document.
Juan Ayala, 46, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of criminal murder and assault, prison records show.
An affidavit from the Salt Lake City Police Department filed in the 3rd District Court said Ayala and one other person quarreled on May 17 in a homeless camp near 235 S. Rio Grande Street when he did the other Slapped person in the face. The other person, whose name and age were not published, fell to the ground and passed out.
The report said that Ayala fled the scene after the blow. The person who was beaten was passed out when the police and emergency services arrived. According to the report, they were taken to a hospital where they died on May 21st.
Police wrote that the state coroner described the next day’s death as a murder from blunt trauma.
On Friday, officials found Ayala where he was questioned about the incident. Police wrote in the affidavit that Ayala admitted beating the person but claimed they did so in self-defense, adding that he “did not intend for the victim to die”.
He was admitted to the Salt Lake County Jail early Saturday morning.
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