Father of juvenile suspect in Ben Lomond High shooting charged with obstruction of justice

OGDEN, Utah (ABC4) — The father of one of the suspects in the October 7 shooting near Ben Lomond High School that killed 16-year-old Mason Caballero

has been charged with obstruction of justice.

Fernando Renteria, 41, has been charged with two counts of obstruction of justice (capital or first-degree felony conduct), which is a second-degree felony.

Following the shooting, police identified a suspect in the shooting as Isaias Emanuel Carranza. A warrant for his arrest was issued, and he was arrested on October 11. On October 23, a second suspect was arrested in connection with the shooting, a juvenile who Ogden Police Department did not identify.

According to the charging documents, Renteria is the father of that juvenile suspect. Allegedly, he helped the suspect escape the Ogden area following the shooting and took him to Las Vegas.

Details from charging documents

A search warrant was executed at the family’s residence on October 8, the day after the shooting, and no one was home. Investigators took note that it appeared that the family had packed up their closets and left town.

Investigators contacted Homeland Security Investigations and learned that the suspect and his mother had taken a flight from Las Vegas to Monterrey, Mexico.

On October 9, police made contact with Renteria and another family member in the front yard of their home. Investigators asked both men if they knew where the suspect or his mother was, and reportedly, they said they did not know where either of them were. Police pressed Renteria about not knowing where his wife or his son were, and he repeated that he did not know.

Allegedly, Renteria told police that he didn’t “know English so much.”

Through tracking vehicles belonging to the Renteria family, they found a vehicle registered to Fernando Renteria that traveled to Las Vegas beginning on October 7, the day of the shooting. Allegedly, two family vehicles were used to take them to the airport.

Video footage obtained from the Las Vegas airport reportedly showed Renteria, the other relative, and three other people hugging the suspect and the mother before the two went through security and eventually boarded the plane.

Cell phone records from October 7 reportedly also showed the relative at the same location where the vehicle used in the murder was dumped, indicating that he picked up the suspect directly after the murder.