A 15-year-old boy is in custody after he allegedly fired upon a group of people during a drive-by shooting earlier this summer, the Salt Lake City Police Department announced Thursday.
The teenager was taken into custody on June 8, two days after the shooting took place on June 6. Police say Sean Amone, 20, was standing in a group outside a home at 1534 N. General Drive near Westpointe Park when the gunfire began. Officials said they found Amone dead at the scene. Four others in the group were hospitalized.
The victims were attending a graduation party, according to an email sent out by Larry Madden, the superintendent of the Salt Lake City School District. The email identified Amone as a graduate of West High and said the other victims included two recent graduates of West as well as older graduates of West and Highland high schools.
Det. Marie Stewart, a spokesperson for SLCPD, said that the families of the victims had already been informed of the arrest, and that announcement was delayed until Thursday “because the investigation has been dynamic.”
Because the victim is a minor, his name and additional information about him cannot be released, police said.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Police Chief Mike Brown met with the mother of one of the injured victims and other Native Hawaiian Pacific Islanders Wednesday, where Brown gave an update on the case saying that detectives had arrested a 15-year-old on suspicion of homicide.
Stewart said that the meeting was “an attempt to gain better communication with the community — work together and try and get ideas to help prevent things like this from happening in the future.”
The meeting was part of an effort by SLCPD to meet with Native Hawaiian Pacific Islanders throughout the Salt Lake Valley twice a month launched after the shooting. Stewart said the meetings are a space where the community can share concerns and ideas for solutions with the police.
One of the main worries expressed at a previous meeting was that “kids have nothing to do after school,” Stewart said. SLCPD shared information about Police Explorers, an after-school program for youth ages 14 to 20 that is, “designed as a vocational interest for young adults who are interested in a future career in law enforcement,” according to SLCPD’s website.
Stewart said that these types of outreach efforts with marginalized communities will continue. SLCPD is already meeting with the “refugee community” and holds gatherings once a month with the Latino Coalition, Stewart noted.
Police have asked anyone with additional information on the shooting to call 801-799-3000.
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