Police investigate downtown shooting death as homicide

SALT LAKE CITY — Police are investigating the death of a man whose body was found on a downtown street Monday morning.

"At this point, we are investigating it as a homicide," Salt Lake Police Sgt. Shawn Josephson said. "It's early on in the investigation, but every indication is this was at the hands of somebody else."

Early indications are that the victim, identified as German Rodriguez-Torres, 49, was shot early Monday where his body was found, about 550 West and 100 South, Josephson said.

The man was found shot less than a block from Gateway shopping center, prompting police to tape off a wide area to preserve the scene. Officers also concealed the body as much as they could so nearby shoppers could not see it.

There was blood at the scene but no gun was found, Josephson said, declining to be specific about the number or location of the gunshot wounds.

Dispatchers received a call about 7:45 a.m. Monday about a man with blood on him lying in the street and police were trying to locate the caller, the sergeant said, as well as anyone else who may have information about the incident.

"Typically, somebody sees something or hears something and we receive that call before somebody just walks by and sees somebody on the sidewalk," Josephson said. "This is not an area that is typically high traffic in the overnight hours."

— Lisa Riley Roche Twitter: dnewspolitics