Teen Charged With 4 Counts of Murder in Utah Carnival Shooting
Prosecutors in Utah charged a 16-year-old boy with four counts of murder Friday for allegedly shooting to death three people – including an infant and pregnant woman – in an apparent gang confrontation at a carnival. In all, five people, including two teens wounded in the arm, were shot late Sunday at WestFest in West Valley City, a Salt Lake City suburb. The shooting happened a day after one at a No Kings protest the day before, making for an unusually violent weekend for the Salt Lake City area.
Two of those killed were bystanders: the 8-month-old boy and 41-year-old pregnant woman, Fnu Reena, 41, of West Jordan, Utah. An 18-year-old man slain, Hassan Lugundi of West Valley City, was the apparent intended target, according to a police affidavit filed in the case. 'I'm gonna tell you guys right now I know what I hit because I know where I was aiming and I know where I was shooting. I did not hit no baby,' the teen allegedly told police soon after the shooting.
Police learned later that Reena was eight weeks pregnant, resulting in the fourth murder count under Utah law. Shot in her head, Reena had just been in for a medical checkup that day, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said at a news conference Friday. The infant, also shot in the head, was in a stroller with his twin sibling, who was unhurt. The infant was unrelated to the other victims. A 17-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy were each shot in the arm, and a pregnant woman was injured while trying to flee over a fence, according to police.
Besides the murder charges, the alleged shooter faced nine felony counts of discharging a firearm resulting in serious injury. Each murder charge could bring a life sentence, if not the death penalty for an adult. As a juvenile, the suspect was ineligible for the death penalty or life in prison. Prosecutors asked that the teenager remain jailed without bond. Court documents did not identify an attorney for the youth who could speak on his behalf.
The gun used in the shooting was a Taurus G2C 9 mm handgun reported stolen in Louisiana, according to police. The alleged shooter was a member of the Titanic Crip Society, a rival of the Bloods gang. Lugundi was friends with Bloods members, according to the affidavit.
The WestFest carnival, a celebration of the establishment of West Valley City and of its cultural diversity, was winding down after drawing as many as 10,000 people over the weekend. Between 1,000 to 2,000 people were still present when the shooting happened.
The apparently unrelated shooting at the No Kings protest the day before happened when a man believed to be part of a peacekeeping team for the rally shot at a man brandishing a rifle at demonstrators, striking both the rifleman and a bystander. The rifleman had relatively minor injuries, but the bystander died at a hospital.
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