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A man charged with fatally shooting two adults and an infant inside his Salt Lake City home last month made his first court appearance on Tuesday.

Alexander Hung Tran, 32, is charged with three counts of aggravated murder charges — which carry the possibility of the death penalty — in connection with the Sept. 18 deaths of Heike Poike, 50, and her 2-month-old granddaughter, Lyrik Poike, and 28-year-old Dakota Smith.

Tran, dressed in a yellow jail jumpsuit, appeared in court via a video feed Tuesday. He spoke only half a dozen words, answering "Yes" and "No" as 3rd District Judge Todd Shaughnessy asked him if he understood the charges against him and whether he had any questions.

He is expected in court again on Oct. 19, when a preliminary hearing is likely to be held.

After his arrest for the alleged slayings, Tran allegedly told a police officer that his mother "made [him] do it," according to a probable cause statement filed in court.

"I'm not saying I didn't do it," Tran allegedly told a Salt Lake City detective.

When officers contacted Tran's mother, she told them she had bought the house for her son, and when she found out two adults and two children were staying in the upstairs-portion of the house, she told her son that they had to go, according to the charges.

The mother said Tran told her the people would not leave.

"[She] instructed Tran to tell the people to go and stated she would start the eviction process," a detective wrote. "On September 18, 2015, at approximately 12 p.m., Tran called [his mother] and told her the people upstairs were gone."

Officers started looking for the family after being alerted by a local elementary school that an 8-year-old boy had not been picked up from school by his grandmother.

When police went to the boy's house, an officer saw a body under a tarp through the living room window, according to charges. Officers entered through an open back door and located Tran in the basement. He allegedly told officers, "I'm putting down the gun," and was arrested.

Along with the .22-caliber handgun, police found several spent casings upstairs in the living room, according to charges.

Each of the three aggravated murder charges carry the possibility of the death penalty — though prosecutors do not have to declare their intent to seek his execution until after he has a preliminary hearing in the case.

Tran is being held in the Salt Lake County Jail in lieu of $3 million cash-only bail.