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WEST VALLEY CITY — The parents of Paul Tahi and Tivani Lopati are bringing a wrongful death lawsuit against Granite School District accusing it of not preventing a January 2022 shooting near Hunter High School that left Paul and Tivani dead and another student injured.
Paul, 15, and Tivani, 14, died from gunshot wounds at the scene of the shooting on Jan. 13, 2022. They were both students at Hunter High.
The shooter, who was 14 at the time and whom KSL.com has chosen not to name, was sentenced in December of 2022 to stay in juvenile detention until he turns 21, which will amount to about six years. The sentence came after he pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter and discharge of a firearm.
The lawsuit filed Thursday, nearly two years to the day after the shooting, in the U.S. District Court alleges that the school district knew about "violent and escalating" conflicts between two groups of Hunter High students — one composed primarily of Polynesian students and one made up of primarily Hispanic students — but didn't do anything to stop them.
A Granite School District spokesman said Friday the district is unable to comment on pending litigation.
The federal lawsuit claims parents of several Hunter High students had notified school administration and the Granite School District police on "multiple occasions" in the weeks and months leading up to the shooting that these groups of students were clashing, that the situation had grown violent as students were being "jumped," fights were taking place on and off school grounds, and that the disputes were intensifying.
"Upon information and belief, the school administration and the school district police failed to properly investigate this information and to address the escalating violence," the lawsuit states. "Because the threat of violence had become so intense and because the school administration and the school district police had failed to properly address and deescalate the situation, one student felt the need to bring a gun to school on the day of the shooting for his own safety and protection."
The shooting occurred during the school's lunch hour and across the street from the school.
Specifically, the lawsuit — filed by parents Lata and Pelitisasa Tahi and parents Rachel and Keith Leota — alleges that Granite School District violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to provide a nondiscriminatory educational environment for students and that district officials were indifferent to known acts of racial harassment between students.
The school district knew about racially-charged harassment and discrimination toward Polynesian students that was "severe" and "pervasive" but "chose to sit by and do nothing," the lawsuit says. "The resulting racially based hostile environment resulted in Paul Tahi and Tivani Lopati's murders."
Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that unnamed individuals connected to the school or the district violated Paul's and Tivani's rights to equal protection under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
"The violation of Title VI and the deprivation of Paul Tahi's and Tivani Lopati's right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment were wrongful acts that caused Paul's and Tivani's deaths," according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit calls for unspecified compensatory, consequential and punitive damages associated with the deaths.
