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SALT LAKE CITY — A man accused of shooting and killing a Florida man outside the Salt Palace Convention Center in September was ordered to stand trial on Thursday.
Nogolweit Kug, 18, will stand trial for murder and aggravated robbery, both first-degree felonies. A third criminal charge, possession of a dangerous weapon as a restricted person, was dismissed after no evidence was presented to support the allegation that Kug was a restricted person.
At the preliminary hearing for Kug and two other men charged in connection with the murder of 41-year-old Deliford Knight, a woman who was at the Sept. 3 sneaker convention and witnessed the shooting recounted to the court what she saw.
Samantha Eldridge said she was with her daughters in a car across the street from the Salt Palace, near 50 S. West Temple, when she noticed people arguing. The dispute, she said, quickly turned into a physical fight.
"It was just a lot of fists — fistfighting, punching each other," she said.
Eldridge said she saw Knight with his hands up, and that he was trying to step away as three men continued to target him. When one man pulled a gun, and the group got closer and bumped into the hood of her car, she said she told her daughters to lock their doors.
In a video she took on her phone, which was played in court on Thursday, her daughters can be heard urging her to drive away from the scene as she explains she can't because there is a large truck to her left. The video lasted only a few seconds.
Eldridge said after the gunshot, she saw two men going through the pockets of the man who was hit and heard them saying something like "This is what you get," before running away.
Thursday's hearing also addressed charges for two of Kug's cousins — Joshua Riak, 22, and Deng Buk, 23 — whom the woman testified were with Kug when Knight was shot. They are both charged with murder and aggravated robbery, both first-degree felonies. Riak is also charged with possession of a dangerous weapon as a restricted person, a second-degree felony; Buk is also charged with obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.
After 3rd District Court Judge Heather Brereton ruled that statements from witnesses, which the prosecutors hoped to use as evidence, did not follow the requirements to be submitted, prosecutors asked for more time to be able to get at least one of those witnesses to testify. A conference was scheduled for Monday to discuss how to proceed with more testimony for charges against Riak and Buk. A hearing for all three defendants was set for May 15.
Salt Lake City police officer Steven Parisot testified about multiple videos he had watched from that day of the incident and the events surrounding it. This included videos from witnesses filming on their phones, cameras from both inside and outside the Salt Palace Convention Center, cameras from City Creek Mall showing where the group had parked, and a few other nearby businesses.
The officer talked about interviewing some of the defendants in the case, saying Buk and Riak initially denied knowing each other and Kug. For Buk, that continued even when he was told there was video of them entering City Creek Mall's parking together. He said Riak eventually admitted he knew his cousin.
Parisot said Buk told him after the shooting, he was afraid and ran all the way to his home in Glendale and gave himself a haircut. The officer said they found dreadlocks in a garbage can at Buk's home.
Knight, who is from Florida, has engaged in fraudulent betting matches at other conventions, according to a press release from police. The release said one of the three individuals charged lost money to Knight and became angry, initiating the fight.
Parisot said Knight and his friends had been kicked out of the sneaker convention earlier that day but had moved to the foyer area instead of leaving the building.
After the shooting, Knight received medical attention from bystanders and emergency response teams but died at the scene.
