OGDEN -- A fledgling gang member has been charged with attempted murder in the stabbing of a former gang member, apparently as part of his ongoing initiation.
A status conference is set for Sept. 8 in 2nd District Court for Rigo Zavala, 19, charged with the first-degree felony, punishable by a prison term of five years to life.
He was arrested by the Ogden Weber Gang Unit a week after the attack on a 21-year-old man in his driveway in the 1700 block of Grant Avenue.
An accomplice lured the victim out of his home to talk after dark, according to charging documents. Zavala was hiding at the end of the driveway when the accomplice asked the victim for drugs.
The victim had left the gang Zavala and the friend belong to four years ago, and told the two he wanted nothing to do with the group, according to a probable cause affidavit.
"At this point Rigo produced a knife from his pocket and stabbed (the victim) in the upper middle abdomen and the left shoulder," wrote gang detective Anthony Powers.
Zavala yelled out his gang's name while stabbing the man, according to the affidavit describing the Aug. 5 incident.
He then fled with the accomplice to a waiting silver Honda Civic occupied by two or three other individuals and left the area.
The victim told police he hadn't seen Zavala or the other suspect for several years and had been "jumped out" of the gang in 2007 after a conflict. "Jumped" in gang parlance usually refers to taking a beating.
"(The victim) stated that the gang wants him dead and that this stabbing was an initiation for Rigo so he could be jumped into the gang," Powers wrote.
Powers noted he had previously dealt with Zavala and the accomplice in contacts with the gang "on numerous occasions." The status of the accomplice could not be confirmed.
The wound to the victim's abdomen required surgery.
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