Police have arrested a California man who they believe was one of the main instigators in a shooting at Salt Lake church parking lot in January that resulted in two people being killed and several others injured.
John Vea Uasike Jr., 32, of Elverta, California, was charged April 9 in 3rd District Court with two counts of murder and two counts of firing a gun and causing serious injury, first-degree felonies; and illegal shooting of a gun and being a restricted person in possession of a gun, second-degree felonies. Those charges were filed under seal while police looked for Uasike in California.
On Monday, the charges were made public after Salt Lake police said investigators located and arrested him.
Uasike is accused of being one of the gunmen in a Jan. 7 shooting in the parking lot of a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 660 N. Redwood Road just after 7:30 p.m. A funeral was underway inside the church at the time, with between 150 and 200 people.
Sione Vatuvei, 38, of Glendale, and Vaea Tulikihihifo, 46, were killed. Six other men were treated at local hospitals. Prosecutors say Uasike was one of the men injured.
Ezekiel Isaiah Tai, 22, and Ryan Daniel Toutai, 32, were arrested in January and charged with obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, but no arrests were made in connection with the actual killings, as police said witnesses were not cooperating with detectives.
One witness told police that she was sitting in her vehicle when she heard shouting and looked up to see a group of six or seven men surrounding another man and “appeared to be trying to tell him to stop arguing,” according to charging documents. That man — believed to be Uasike — then went to an SUV and grabbed a gun out of the front passenger door.
“The men surrounded the (gunman and) pinned him up against the car to get the gun out of his hand,” the charges state. “Other males standing around the defendant tried to calm him down and another male held the defendant’s hand in the air so he wouldn’t shoot anyone. The defendant fired one round into the air, which caused the crowd to duck. The defendant then fired a second round into the air, causing people to scatter,” the charges state.
“The defendant went around the black SUV, and while standing in front of the black SUV on the driver’s side, he began firing his gun toward the church and many (of the) funeral attendees. Multiple people were hit by gunfire, two of whom were declared deceased on scene.”
A second man was also spotted shooting toward the church. One witness estimated the second gunman “fired approximately eight rounds in two volleys of fire,” according to the charges. “(The witness) stated that both men continued shooting until they ran out of ammunition.” The witness later “clarified that the (second) male only fired his gun after someone else was firing back.”
Another witness told police that when she arrived at the funeral, she saw a group of men gathered in the parking lot. She said Toutai walked up to the group and started a fight with one of the men, believed to be Uasike. A gun was held to Toutai’s head, which prompted a man to swat “the male with the gun’s hand down and said, ‘Hey, don’t do that,’” according to the charges. The group then “shoved (Toutai) out of the way and she started walking away toward the church.”
That’s when the second witness heard gunfire. That witness “suffered a gunshot wound to the face and a gunshot wound to the lower back,” charging documents state.
A third witness, walking back to the church after getting food, saw Toutai arguing and yelled at him, “telling him to chill, that they were at a funeral.” The third witness told police that the group was trying to separate the gunman and Toutai when shots were fired. The third witness was “hit with a bullet in the back of the shoulder,” according to the charges.
Investigators say Uasike was also injured during the shootout in the parking lot and “as soon as he was discharged from the hospital for his gunshot wounds, he returned to California.” Uasike has prior convictions in California, “one of which he served seven years in prison for assaulting someone with a semi-automatic firearm,” prosecutors noted.
Salt Lake police say their investigation is still active and believe there are additional people who were armed and may have fired shots during the incident who have not been identified.