A month after a deadly shooting outside a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shook a memorial service, Salt Lake City police are still identifying those involved in the crime.
The Jan. 7 shooting left two dead and six injured at the Rose Park 5th Ward meetinghouse 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.
After the shooting, 22-year-old Ezekiel Tai and 32-year-old Ryan Toutai were arrested and charged with obstruction. Based on evidence recovered by investigators, Salt Lake City police Sgt. Greg Wilking said the men attempted to hide their potential involvement in the shooting.
Investigators, Wilking said, have not yet identified a suspected shooter or shooters.
Community impacts
Police say Tai and Toutai were involved with the Tongan Crip Gang, but Wilking added that investigators aren’t sure how gang activity may have played into the shooting.
“We’re continuing to follow up on leads,” Wilking said, “and we could possibly see more arrests related to it, along those same veins of the obstruction. Until we get people to cooperate, they could be facing the potential charges of interfering with the investigation.”
Susi Feltch-Malohifo’ou, CEO of one of Utah’s largest Pacific Islander organizations — Pacific Island Knowledge 2 Action Resources, commonly referred to as PIK2AR — knew both of the men who were killed in the January shooting.
She said the shooting is “still devastating,” and that Vatuvei was an integral part of one of the organization’s peer-support groups for men. Feltch-Malohifo’ou said after the shooting, Salt Lake City police arrested several Tongans who were previously convicted of felonies, contributing to a feeling of mistrust of police.
Wilking said there were several individuals detained as part of the investigation into the shooting. He added that those people were at the church on the night of the shooting or were identified by witnesses as being at the church.
One of the peer-support group’s facilitators was picked up by officers, Feltch-Malohifo’ou said, and police “never said anything” about why he was brought in. Authorities drove him home themselves after Feltch-Malohifo’ou stepped in, she added.
Wilking said the man was likely taken home because police were done questioning him.
“That’s fairly standard when we’re talking to people,” Wilking said. “We transport them down to the station, and then if they need rides home, we’ll take them home if we determine we don’t know what their involvement is.”
Police assertions of gang affiliation can cause problems, Feltch-Malohifo’ou said. Just because someone may be related to someone in a gang doesn’t mean they are “gang-affiliated,” she added.
“Often the way I’ve seen Salt Lake City police is they say you’re gang-affiliated — we’re probably all gang-affiliated because we have a cousin or friend, somebody, that is active, right?” Feltch-Malohifo’ou said. “There’s a difference between ‘active gang member’ and ‘affiliated gang member.’”
Family connections are much more important than the label of a gang, Feltch-Malohifo’ou added.
”Probably within our community and in our families, we wouldn’t even know who is an active gang member or an affiliated gang member,” Feltch-Malohifo’ou said.“They’re just family. ’It’s just my brother. It’s just my cousin.’ We see the people first, before those labels.”
Attacks on the Pacific Islander community have also been apparent online after the shooting. Feltch-Malohifo’ou encouraged people who are not Pacific Islanders to speak out against the attacks when they see them.
“You’ve got community members — non-Pacific Island community members — that are racially attacking, saying things on social media, [such as] ‘They’re violent people anyway, let them kill each other,’” Feltch-Malohifo’ou said. “It doesn’t help in the healing of the individuals involved or the community to heal…”
Investigation continues
Paul Cassell, a criminal justice professor at the University of Utah who previously served as a federal prosecutor and, later, a federal judge, said he’s seen a “fair number” of gang-related cases.
“There’s always the risk of gang retaliation against anyone who might come forward to help the authorities,” Cassell said. “That’s one of the things that makes gang prosecutions more challenging than other types of crimes.”
The obstruction charges, he said, indicate that police and prosecutors are making progress.
“You can’t really file obstruction charges without making some significant inroads towards the ultimate crime,” Cassell said. “That’s a significant step in the process and could very well lead to others.”
Witnesses are not being forthcoming with information needed to solve the case, Wilking said, but investigators aren’t going away.
“One thing we know is that over time, people’s alliances change,” Wilking said. “People reflect on their behavior and they come forward with information — it’s going to come to the surface eventually. There’s just too much evidence … and too many people involved to think that it’s not going to get solved.”