Shell casing ID capacity has Utah crime fighters crowing

SALT LAKE CITY — A recently solved drive-by shooting case in South Salt Lake highlights the effectiveness of a newly formed center that provides investigators with improved ballistics testing, according to Utah authorities.

Investigators using the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network traced a stolen Glock 26 9-mm handgun to Rory Curtis Cordova, who authorities said is a 50-yearold Ogden Trece gang member, the Deseret News reported.

Cordova now faces federal firearms charges that could put him behind bars for 10 years.

Federal, state and local law enforcement leaders said the arrest is a good example of the role the ballistics network and the Crime Gun Intelligence Center play in piecing together violent crimes.

Utah U.S. Attorney John Huber said police wouldn’t have solved the South Salt Lake case and two others in Herriman and Ogden without the ballistic information network.

“We have successfully deployed the technology that should leave gang members and thugs shaking in their boots,” he said.

The technology allows police to match spent shell casings to the guns that fire them.

To date, Utah law enforcers have entered 1,200 casings into the system, resulting in 56 hits in 75 cases. And 15 of those hits involve three or more shootings linked to serial shooters, Department of Public Safety Commissioner Keith Squires said.

Detailed images of shell casings are sent to a lab in California that looks for other features.

The lab can search databases in states across the country.

Scott G. Winterton The Associated Press Forensic scientist Justin Bechaver shoots a series of test rounds into a water-filled tank at the Utah State Crime Lab in Tayorsville, Utah.