The Latest: 19-year-old arrested in drive-by shooting of boy

KEARNS, Utah – The Latest on the drive-by shooting of a 9-year-old boy (all times local):

4:10 p.m.

Utah police have arrested a 19-year-old man in connection with the drive-by shooting of a 9-year-old boy, which left the youth in critical condition.

A tweet Thursday from the Unified Police official Twitter account announced the arrest of Oscar Bermejo-Zaragoza. Police did not return a message seeking further details.

Salt Lake County jail records show Bermejo-Zaragoza was being held Thursday afternoon on suspicion of aggravated assault and discharging a firearm toward a vehicle.

Court records show Bermejo-Zaragoza faces aggravated burglary, robbery and assault charges from a September home invasion in Ogden. His attorney in that case, James Retallick, did not return messages.

Police say the boy was sitting in the back of a car in the town of Kearns on Wednesday when a passing car fired a shot, which hit the boy in the head.

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9:50 a.m.

Utah police say a 9-year-old boy who was shot in a drive-by shooting remains in critical condition after having emergency surgery.

Unified Police Detective Ken Hansen said Thursday that doctors may not know until the weekend whether the boy will recover.

Police say the boy was sitting in the backseat of a car in Kearns with other children Wednesday afternoon when a passing car fired a shot toward the vehicle. It went through the windshield and hit the boy in head.

No other children were injured.

Hansen says police believe the shooting may be gang-related and someone else was the target.

Hansen says police were searching for two young Latino men wearing Chicago Bulls hats that witnesses reported seeing in the passing car.

The car was found abandoned in Salt Lake City on Wednesday.

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