A week after a shooting outside a Salt Lake City Latter-day Saint meetinghouse left two dead and six injured, authorities have arrested a man they say obstructed their investigation.
Salt Lake City police made the arrest Tuesday afternoon on suspicion of felony obstruction of justice. The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not name people who have been arrested until prosecutors have filed charges.
This marked first arrest in the high-profile case.
Police say the man was inside the church on the night of the Jan. 7 shooting and “closely matched” witness descriptions of one of the shooters. According to arrest documents, police recovered a video from the man’s phone taken about a month before the shooting showing him handling a firearm that authorities say was recovered from the scene.
The shooting occurred during a memorial service at the Rose Park 5th Ward meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 660 N. Redwood Road, where the Riverside 2nd Ward also gathers. Police identified the two men who died as 38-year-old Sione Vatuvei and 46-year-old Vaea Tulikihihifo.
The man who was arrested has “reported involvement” with the Tongan Crip Gang, police said in arrest documents, and was at the event dressed in gang colors and attire.
The man told police shortly after the shooting that he had stepped into the church parking lot when he heard the gunfire, arrest documents say. He told investigators he wasn’t involved in the altercation and was not near the area where the shooters were.
Arrest documents say authorities recovered a blue hat — believed to be the man’s — from the church parking lot where spent cartridge casings and a handgun were also found.
Cellphone video recovered by investigators also showed the man driving a car with another man shortly before the funeral. “The male in the passenger seat was identified as one of the other males involved in the altercation,” arrest records say, “who had shown up at a local hospital with a gunshot wound.”
The passenger was seen in the video displaying a handgun consistent with the firearm recovered at the scene, police say.
On Tuesday, detectives confronted the man they eventually arrested with the evidence of his involvement and told him that he could be charged with obstruction of justice if he gave false statements, arrest documents state. The man continued to deny any knowledge of the firearm recovered at the scene and could not explain how his hat ended up in the location of the gunfire, according to arrest documents.
Police arrested the man during a traffic stop Tuesday. Authorities said he was attempting to conceal a loaded firearm under the seat of the car he was riding in during the arrest.
The man is currently being held without bail in the Salt Lake County jail.
Police say they are still actively investigating the shooting, adding that they have been hindered by a lack of cooperation from multiple people.
This story will be updated.