A federal grand jury unsealed an indictment Friday charging two men in connection with a Jan. 7 shooting in Salt Lake City outside a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints location, a case that left two people dead and six others injured, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah said.
The indictment charges Ryan Toutai, 32, with unlawful disposition of a firearm, and it charges Fineeva Maka, 26, with felon in possession of a firearm, according to prosecutors. The U.S. attorney’s office said investigators used cellphone videos and photos and GPS ankle monitor evidence to tie the two men to a pistol recovered after the shooting.
Prosecutors said the shooting broke out in the back parking lot of a place of worship that serves the church’s local congregation, and they said the violence started from a dispute between people who knew each other and were attending a funeral. Investigators said all of the victims were adults. The government has not yet filed charges related to the killings themselves, prosecutors said.
The church location is part of a broader LDS presence tied to Tonga, where the church says missionaries first brought its faith in the 1890s. The church also says more than 25% of the U.S. Tongan population resides in Utah, where the faith’s headquarters is located.
In the case, the U.S. attorney’s office said prosecutors allege that the two indicted men are gang members. Toutai and Maka are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday, and the federal public defender’s office was not immediately reached for comment, the Associated Press reported. It was also not immediately clear whether the defendants had attorneys.
Police previously arrested Toutai on a separate charge of felony obstruction of justice in the same case, and he was in jail as of Saturday, according to the report. A third man was also arrested on the obstruction charge.