Nearly three weeks after a deadly shooting outside a Salt Lake City meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, prosecutors have charged a second man police say obstructed their investigation.
Salt Lake City police arrested California resident Ezekiel Tai, 22, on Jan. 21.
He was found at a West Jordan home, where police located a vehicle that was seen leaving the church parking lot shortly after the shooting, authorities said. Tai “closely matched” the description of a man who was driving the vehicle on the night of the shooting, according to court documents.
On the night of the shooting — which left two people dead and six injured — the same driver also dropped off two men with gunshot wounds at a hospital, and hospital personnel identified Tai as the driver, investigators said. Tai is also the younger brother of the two injured men, charging documents state.
All three men have ties to the Tongan Crip Gang, authorities said in the documents.
Witnesses saw Tai at the West Jordan residence cleaning out the interior of the vehicle sometime after the shooting, and investigators found stains that they believe to be blood inside the car, investigators said. License plates and a GPS system that were removed from the vehicle were also found at a garage in the home, according to charging documents.
Tai is being held without bail in the Salt Lake County jail. He will make his first court appearance Thursday.
Authorities arrested another man, 32-year-old Ryan Toutai, on Jan. 13. Toutai was also charged with obstruction of justice in the shooting investigation and made his first court appearance last Friday.