Gang wars: Slayings: Homicides in Utah soared in mid-'90s

They were episodes of violence that shocked the state, caught the attention of the national media and prompted a Utah senator's pledge to secure millions to stop the gang killings.

On Sept. 1, 1993, 17-year-old Aaron Chapman was shot and killed while leaving a concert at the Triad Center Amphitheatre. Asi Mohi, a 17-year-old football star at West High School, was arrested and eventually convicted of the murder.

Just two weeks later on Sept. 15, 1993, a 20-year-old man was shot at the Utah State Fair. The victim survived. Two 16-year-old boys, one already known as a hard-core gang member and the other known to associate with gangs, were arrested.

Suddenly, quiet Salt Lake City, where serious gang problems were only heard about in the headlines of newspapers of other states, was now facing what some were calling a gang crisis.

After the state fair shooting, then-Salt Lake Police Chief Ruben Ortega announced he was cracking down on gangs before they became a major problem. The next day, Gov. Mike Leavitt announced that during an upcoming special session of the the Legislature, he would ask lawmakers to address the gang issue. Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini proposed several new city ordinances to curb gun violence.

The gang-related shootings of 1993 received so much attention that the "NBC Nightly News" sent a crew to Salt Lake as part of a series on youth violence in surprising places.

The violence, however, continued. On Feb. 3, 1994, Anthony Martin Archuleta, 16, shot and killed Roland "Bo" Zahorka during a dispute over a pay phone. That month, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, pointed to Zahorka's death as an example of why federal funding was needed to fight gangs.

Earlier this month, Archuleta went before the State Board of Pardons for a parole hearing.

It was due in part to the Archuleta murder that several significant laws aimed at curbing gang violence, many of which are still used heavily by law enforcement and prosecutors today, were created.

This fall will mark 15 years since that time when the issue of street gangs caught the full attention of state and city leaders and the community.

Bloodshed and heartache