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SALT LAKE CITY — West Valley police say a man recently shot in Salt Lake City has no connection to a double killing outside Hunter High School, even though the accused gunman allegedly claimed the shooting was in retaliation.
Why the alleged gunman believed the man and his family were somehow connected to the shooting deaths of two Hunter High students six days earlier was still unknown Monday. But West Valley police spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku said after investigating the claims, detectives found no ties between the Salt Lake shooting and the Hunter High killings on Jan. 13.
Charles Wight, of Auburn, Washington, is charged with attempted murder and aggravated burglary, first-degree felonies, and discharge of a firearm causing injury, a second-degree felony, for the Jan. 19 shooting. Three new charges were later filed against him — three counts of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony — for an incident at a McDonald's drive-thru that occurred about 20 minutes before the shooting.
About 4 a.m. on that day, police say Wight and three other men walked up to a McDonald's restaurant, 3464 W. 3500 South. The group first walked up to a pickup truck, forced a man out of his vehicle at gunpoint and then took the man's cellphone and wallet, according to charging documents.
While that was happening, another vehicle pulled up to the restaurant's drive-thru. That prompted two of the men to point guns at the second vehicle, the charges state. The driver of that car sped away from the restaurant.
The group then walked behind another nearby business and reappeared when a third vehicle, a Ford Explorer, entered the drive-thru. Two of the men, each holding guns, walked up to the Explorer, one on the driver side and one on the passenger side.
"The male who approached his driver's window asked him if he wanted to die. (The victim) told that male that he did not want to die because he had children, and the male suspect responded by ordering (him) out of the vehicle at gunpoint," according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.
Just as the victim got out of the Explorer, the other two men got into the back seat of his vehicle, the warrant states. Investigators believe that vehicle was then driven to Salt Lake City.
About 20 minutes after the carjacking, Wight and one other man forced their way into a Salt Lake apartment near 750 N. 900 West by kicking in the door, according to the charges. When a 24-year-old man who lives in the apartment went to investigate what was happening, he was confronted by the two men and shot in the leg.
Wight was later identified as the gunman, the charges state. The victim told detectives that prior to the shooting, Wight had been messaging his wife on social media and "threatening to shoot them" while accusing the wife's brother of "shooting Wight's family member in a previous incident near Hunter High School," the charges state. The brother told police that he "had also been receiving death threats by text and social media by Wight."
In their search warrant, investigators state that in Wight's messages, he "explicitly tells (the wife's brother) that he shot the wrong person and that he was going to kill (him)." Wight also claimed to being a member of a violent street gang in Salt Lake County.
Based on that information, detectives originally believed that Wight's actions were "in retaliation to the recent double homicide that occurred on Jan, 13," according to the affidavit.
But as police continued to investigate the case, they discovered there actually weren't any ties between the Salt Lake family and the Hunter High victims. Vainuku said Monday that investigators have no idea why Wight believed there was a connection.
Paul Tahi, 15, and Tivani Lopatiwere, 14, were shot and killed during a confrontation between two groups of students near Hunter High School on Jan. 13 near 4100 South and the Mountain View Corridor. A third teen, Ephraim Asiata, 15, was recently released from the hospital after suffering critical injuries in that shooting.
A 14-year-old boy is charged with two counts of murder in juvenile court. Originally, three other boys, each 14 or 15, were detained by West Valley police, who say that other teens may still face formal charges. Prosecutors have previously said they intend to seek to have the 14-year-old certified as an adult.
In court documents, the teen gunman claims the shootings came after a year of being harassed by the victims, all football players at the school, and their friends.
