2 charged with murder in Salt Lake shooting spree

2 charged with murder in Salt Lake shooting spree

(Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News, File)


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — Two people were charged Thursday with murdering a man during a shooting spree in Salt Lake City.

Brody Olson, 36, of West Jordan, and Tonita Holland, 38, of West Valley City, are charged in 3rd District Court with murder, aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery, first-degree felonies; plus possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of a firearm by a restricted person, and two counts of discharging a firearm resulting in injury, second-degree felonies.

On Feb. 17, police were called at an apartment complex, 1930 S. West Temple, about 5:35 a.m. on a report of shots fired. Melvin Dyer, 51, was found dead of a gunshot wound and two others — a man and a woman — were injured when bullets "grazed" their heads, according to Salt Lake police.

The incident started when one of the victims, who was expecting Holland, went to the door. Holland told the tenant that she would be coming over to buy meth, according to charging documents. When he opened the door, "a male pointed a revolver at him and entered the apartment," the charges state.

Related:

The man demanded everyone's wallets, phones "and asked for the safe," according to the charges. Holland had been in the apartment about a month earlier and had seen a safe, police say.

When Olson was handed the safe, the man who answered the door tried to attack him while he was putting the safe in a bag, according to charging documents.

At that point, the man believes five shots were fired. The man who attacked Olson was injured when a bullet grazed the back of his head, according to charging documents. A woman who also attempted to hold Olson was injured when her ear was grazed by a bullet.

Two rounds fired in the apartment hit the ceiling, another hit the kitchen wall, a fourth hit a water heater, and a fifth bullet struck Dyer in the chest, causing fatal injuries, the charges state.

Olson has a lengthy criminal history, according to court records, including various theft and forgery related charges and burglary.

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Pat Reavy

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast