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TAYLORSVILLE — Two people are in custody Saturday and a third is still outstanding after police say they fired on another vehicle from theirs and then ran from pursuing officers.
Unified Police Detective Ken Hansen said one of them was involved in a SWAT standoff overnight after they ran into a Taylorsville home. They were identified later Saturday as Samani Sekona, 34, and Siosiane Taufa, 26, both of Salt Lake City. Sekona is being held on suspicion of failure to stop at the command of a police officer; Taufa is being held because of an outstanding warrant related to a November kidnapping incident.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, Sekona was driving a vehicle with two others. A complainant said someone in that vehicle fired two shots at their vehicle near 7500 S. State St., then fled to the highway nearby.
Hansen said an officer, who thought he was witnessing a road rage incident, saw two vehicles get on northbound I-15 at 7200 South and pursued them.
The shooter's vehicle got on I-215 and then exited onto northbound Redwood Road, Hansen said. Another Unified officer spotted it near 2200 West and Quailstone Drive.
The vehicle pulled up to a house near 2200 West and 4805 South and the three occupants got out without stopping the car, Hansen said. Taufa was apprehended at the scene by a K9 officer, but Sekona made it into the house.
The probable cause statement says the house was "known" to Sekona and "the occupants stated he was given permission in the past to enter for emergencies."
Responding officers heard a gunshot, Hansen said, and called a SWAT team to set up containment and negotiate with the occupants.
Officers convinced two people to come out of the home, who claimed no one else was there; however, after obtaining a search warrant, Hansen said officers entered the home and found Sekona. The third male passenger was not located.
Hansen said the outstanding vehicle occupant is a man but had no other information on him Saturday morning.
Correction: This article originally said both people arrested were males; one is a woman.
