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MILLCREEK — A third person has been arrested in connection with a fatal shooting at a Millcreek apartment.
Randy Merrill Mower, 23, of Sandy, was arrested Wednesday for investigation of obstruction of justice. He joins Derek Algernon Little, 35, and his girlfriend, Tryana Lynn Scaramella, 27, both of Millcreek, who were arrested Monday in connection with the death of Tevita Laloni, 32, of Salt Lake City.
Little was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of murder, obstruction, two counts of possession of a weapon by a restricted person, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Scaramella was arrested for investigation of obstruction of justice, according to police.
Monday morning, Unified police were called to 229 E. Hill Ave. (4050 South) where police say Scaramella claimed she found a man who had been shot outside her apartment. Laloni died at a hospital a short time later.
As detectives started digging into the case, they found surveillance video that showed Laloni being pulled out of Little and Scaramella’s apartment by Little and another unidentified man.
Police believe Mower was that third person and he helped “carry the deceased male upstairs away from the apartment where the shooting occurred. Mower then left the scene prior to police arriving,” according to a police affidavit.
When interviewed by police, Mower said he helped carry Laloni but denied taking the gun used in the shooting, the affidavit states.
Detectives served a search warrant on Little’s apartment and found “methamphetamine, a rifle, a shotgun, a loaded 9 mm magazine, a spent 9 mm cartridge, and hundreds of unfired rounds,” the affidavit states.
After he was arrested, Little told police that he was in a bedroom with Laloni when Laloni pulled out a loaded handgun, removed the magazine and tried to take the slide off the gun, according to the affidavit. He then allegedly handed the gun to Little.
“Little stated that as he took the gun from the decedent, when he handed it to him, the gun went off and the decedent got shot,” the affidavit states.
