A shooting incident took place on Sunday night, June 15, in the WestFest in the West Valley City. Reportedly, 3 people were killed, including an infant of 8 months and two others got injured in the shooting.
The spokesperson of the West Valley City Police, Roxeanne Vainuku, revealed that the shooting took place at around 9:20 pm during the WestFest, after two groups got into a verbal argument. And when the police approached them to solve the conflict 16-year-old male suspect opened fire, prompting an officer to return fire without hitting the suspect.
The shooting incident left 5 people injured, out of which 3 died on the spot, and two were shot in the arm. The 3 deceased included an 18-year-old male, a 41-year-old woman and her 8-month-old infant. A 17-year-old female and a 15-year-old were both shot in the arm.
As per the Police, the 16-year-old suspect was the only one involved in the shooting and all the victims were injured as a result of his gunfire. The deceased 18-year-old was from the opposing group of the suspect, while the woman and her daughter were one of the by-standers and were not connected to the conflict in any way. Apart from this the police is unaware whether the two injured were a part of the conflict or not.
Roxeanne Vainuku stated that it is not clear that the shooting was gang related or not and is still under investigation. Police will not be releasing the name of the suspect as he was a juvenile, but the identities of the deceased will be revealed once their families are notified.
The police authorities are currently investigating from the witnesses of the scene and have mentioned that there were other possible witnesses who fled the scene.
In addition to the shooting victims, several others were injured while trying to flee the scene, including a pregnant woman who was hurt after falling during her escape.
Roxeanne Vainuku, concluded by stating, “It’s heartbreaking, I think for all of us, to see something like this happen at something that is just a real treasure, something that we really enjoy in our community”. Further mentioning it is difficult for the community to experience a tragedy during an event meant to celebrate the West Valley City.
The suspect was taken in the custody for questioning, and the interrogation of the suspect is due as of the Sunday Night Briefing.
