SALT LAKE CITY — A fourth suspect, and the first alleged triggerman in a fatal shooting outside a Salt Lake City church in January, has been arrested — and this time, charged with murder.
After more than three months, police and prosecutors say they are finally getting a clearer picture into the mass shooting on Jan. 7 that left two people dead and injured six others.
Multiple shots had been fired from two different handguns. One of the shooters, according to police, was 31-year-old John Vea Uasike. He was arrested in California and is now awaiting extradition to Utah.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney's office has charged Uasike with two counts of murder, three counts of felony discharge of a firearm, and one count of prohibited dangerous weapon conduct.
The shooting occurred in the parking lot of a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meetinghouse at 660 N. Redwood Road, where a funeral was taking place inside. Thirty-eight-year-old Sione Vatuvei and 46-year-old Vaea Tulikihihifo were killed during the incident.
According to newly released charging documents, witnesses gave descriptions of who they saw in the parking lot before, during and after the shooting. One witness was then shown a photo of Uasike inside the church during the funeral and confirmed that he was one of the people who fired gunshots.
Uasike himself was originally listed as a victim because he was wounded during the exchange of gunfire. But he headed back to California after being treated and released from a local hospital.
Salt Lake City Police Detective Michael Ruff said investigators were later able to figure out his alleged role in the shooting, then tracked him down near Sacramento, California.
"They actually were able to determine that this individual [Uasike] was actually one of the shooters that night," Ruff said, "So this is the first person we have taken into custody who we believe fired shots.”
Gunshots heard in security video during SLC church shooting:
In the weeks after the shooting, Ryan Daniel Toutai, 32, and Fineeva Pomona Maka, 26, were arrested in connection with the shooting. They have both been charged in federal court: Toutai with "unlawful disposition of a firearm," and Maka with "felon in possession of a firearm." Toutai was also charged locally by the Salt Lake County DA with obstruction of justice.
Both Toutai and Maka, who have been tied to a local gang, had previously been pictured with one of the firearms used in the shooting.
Ezekiel Isaiah Tai, 22, was also charged with obstruction of justice. Investigators said Tai dropped two of the shooting victims off at a local hospital, then went back to a West Jordan residence where he was seen cleaning the interior of his SUV. Blood was later found in the SUV and on Tai's shoes, documents state. Prosecutors say he is also connected to a local gang.
Ruff said it’s been a painstaking process. That’s because detectives had to sift through dozens of cell phone and security videos, and interview dozens of potential witnesses — many of whom refused to cooperate.
“People want to say, 'Why didn’t they arrest him sooner, before he got out of the hospital?'" said Jerry Valdez, who spent more than a decade as a detective with the Metro Gang Unit. "They may not have had evidence by then because of so many people being uncooperative, and so it takes time... You have people scared, you’re at a funeral and now there’s a shooting with multiple people getting hit.“
DA Sim Gill added: “There was nothing easy about this... It was good police work scrubbing through all those multiple sources to put together a narrative to be able to describe what happened.”
Meanwhile, the case is still open and the investigation is still active. SLCPD investigators believe there may be more individuals involved in the shooting, and anyone with information about the incident is asked to call 801-799-3000.
"We know there’s at least one more shooter, if not more than that," Ruff said. "There’s other people out there that fired guns that night, and we need to get them in custody as well.”
'He was Godfearing, selfless,' family mourns Vaea Tulikihihifo after church shooting:
