Midvale man arrested, charged for allegedly shooting at two strangers, one hospitalized

MIDVALE, Utah (ABC4) — A Midvale man is facing felony charges after shooting at two men, causing one of them to be hospitalized. Court documents say that a juvenile witnessed the shooting.

Dakota Pierce, 23, has been charged with two counts of felony discharge of a firearm resulting in serious bodily injury, two counts of endangerment of a child, three counts of felony discharge of a firearm, and one count of reckless endangerment.

According to court documents, on July 17, 2025, just before 11:30 p.m., two men were leaving a smoke shop on State Street when they noticed a man — later identified as Pierce — accompanied by a juvenile walking toward them on the sidewalk.

One of the men saw a dark-colored vehicle make a U-turn and park near a local car rental business. Pierce placed the juvenile into the vehicle and turned to the two men as they walked past him. He allegedly shouted, “You guys having a good night?”

Before the two men could react, documents say Pierce pulled out a black handgun and fired in their direction five times. The two men fled, but one of them had been shot in the abdomen during the shooting.

The Taylorsville Police Department responded and took a description of Pierce as a caucasian male with a goatee, long brown ponytail, and wearing colored shorts. The Unified Police Department responded to take over the case and learned that the victim had been transported to the hospital with two gunshot wounds to the abdomen.

The victim would later tell police that he did not know Pierce, and was fearful for his life. He believed that the gunshots were not directed at him, but someone else nearby.

Officers located five spent shell casings at the scene of the shooting, as well as one unspent round of ammunition. Surveillance footage from the car rental business captured Pierce walking down the sidewalk before going out of view, then roughly 30 seconds later, it showed the two men fleeing.

An officer with the Unified Police Department located a suspect matching Pierce’s description walking toward the crime scene, court documents say. Pierce was detained and identified, and a search warrant was obtained for his residence in hopes of locating the firearm used in the shooting.

During the search, officers located a black .22 revolver, a holstered black firearm on the kitchen counter, two boxes of .45 ACP ammunition, and an empty pistol magazine with a nine-round capacity. One of the ammunition boxes was missing nine rounds. Police were unable to locate the firearm they believe was used in the shooting.

The homeowner told police that she was not aware of an incident on State Street, and that she had seen Pierce around 10 p.m. at work when he visited with two juveniles. She also stated that Pierce was using another person’s vehicle. After work, she said that she met with Pierce, two men, and the juveniles outside of a nearby bar; one of the men drove her and one of the juveniles home.

Police made contact with the man who took the two home, and he stated that he and the other were at the bar and had been drinking. A gun exchanged hands between the two and was later given to Pierce. The man stated that he went to pick up Pierce, when Pierce suddenly became aggressive toward two men on bicycles and began shooting at them.

According to court documents, surveillance footage from the bar showed Pierce with two juveniles outside the bar. Pierce is handed a firearm and places it in his waistband. The homeowner who lives with Pierce then arrives and leaves with one of the juveniles. Pierce and the juvenile who witnessed the shooting then began walking down the sidewalk and out of view of the cameras.

In a police interview, Pierce stated that the man captured on surveillance footage “looks a lot like me.” When asked whether he had fired a gun that night, he allegedly responded that he could have “under the right circumstances.” Documents say he also admitted to drinking an unknown amount of alcohol before the incident.

Pierce was arrested and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail, where he is being held on a no-bail warrant. He has an initial appearance in court scheduled for July 28.